Simulation of oil yield provides guidelines for design, management, and research of hedgerow olive orchards

Abstract

This paper describes the origins and use of a simulation model of oil yield of olive hedgerow orchards that combines calculations of hedgerow illumination in response to orchard structure, canopy depth, canopy width, canopy slope and row spacing, with measured responses of oil yield to incident solar radiation. Simulation results for N-S oriented orchards reveal that orchard yield of hedgerows of rectangular shape reaches a maximum when canopy depth equals alley width (row spacing - canopy width) and decreases at wider spacing, and/or with wider canopies, as the length of productive row decreases per unit orchard area. Yields of wide canopies can be substantially increased (to 40%) by applyi..