Fruit thinning affects photosynthetic activity, carbohydrate levels, and shoot and fruit development of olive trees grown under semiarid conditions

Olive (Olea europaea L.) production is marked by annual oscillations as trees alternate from high to low crop loads in successive years. Gas exchanges and carbohydrate content of leaves and fruits in olive tree (O. europaea cv. Besbassi) were monitored at pit hardening and fruit ripening. After fruit set, three crop loads were applied (100%, 50% and 25% of the initial fruit load) by manual thinning. Severe fruit thinning reduced photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and intercellular CO2 concentration. Crop load had no significant effect on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. The reduction of 75% of the initial crop load favoured the accumulation of starch in leaves and soluble sugars in leaves and fruits. The reduction in initial fruit load had a significant positive effect on the current year's shoot elongation and on inflorescence number the following spring. To increase the fruit size, a strong thinning (75%) was necessary, which coincided with the highest shoot vigour. Moderate thinning (50%) hardly affected leaf carbohydrate content and fruit size, but photosynthetic capacity was only limited at fruit ripening.