Interazione ambientale e gestione risorse energetiche nel pesco.

The current trends of increasing importance of sustainable production methods place renewed emphasis on the ecophysiological knowledge that is amenable to implementation through innovative cultural methods. Despite availability of heat summations for the Italian territory, very little use is still made of such information to determine the suitability of a given production district for a certain cultivar. In addition, the long-held tenet of maximizing light interception in order to maximize yield of fruit may be in need of a revision, at least in growing districts, such as the Italian ones, where abundant (i.e. probably excessive) light is available throughout the growing season. Estimates of photosynthetic efficiency and the incidence of photoinhibitory damage allow to suggest the potential benefits of reducing light levels impending on peach canopies, in order to reduce their water needs without sacrificing yields. Recent developments in instrumentation have allowed the study of the mechanism of daily growth of the peach fruit, revealing the importance of skin transpiratory losses as a driver of the fruit capacity to unload carbohydrates from the phloem and water from the xylem, which result in fruit growth. The practice of summer pruning may help improve the microclimate for optimum fruit growth. Precision fruit growing can integrate several bits of physiological knowledge into maps of orchard potentials for high production of quality fruit. All these bits of knowledge can be usefully implemented in innovative peach orchard management schemes.