BARI HODAJ1*, PETRIT RAMA1, NATASHA HODAJ2 AND TOKLI THOMAJ1
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1Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agriculture & Environment, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania 2Department of economics and Rural Developement Policies, Faculty of Economic & Agribusiness, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania Abstract The present study aims at achieving a better understanding of the impact of temperatures and, more in general, climate conditions impact on the phonological stages of the hazelnut cultivar Visoka. A deeper knowledge of the impact of climate conditions helps in a better crop management thus resulting in a better quality of the production and higher yields. On this purpose, an observation was conducted in three different areas of Albania where currently this hazelnut cultivar is cultivated. These three geographic areas, namely Pogradec, Mat and Ballsh are situated in different latitudes and present different climate conditions among them. The observation took place for three consecutive years. The study confirms that the hazelnut plants’ phenophases are significantly influenced by the minimum temperatures reached and the average temperatures during the cold season. It was observed that the mentioned hazelnut cultivar delays the flowering process according to the temperatures of the area. In a sort of self-defence mechanism, cultivar Visoka postpones the flowering process thus avoids the damaging of the new flowers in the colder areas. The results show that an alteration of the average temperatures with -6.70c delays the flowering process by 36 days while an alteration of -70c delays the flowering process by 42 days. Keywords: hazelnut; phenological stages; climatic adaptation. |