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The effect of extending the pruning time and reducing the pruning intensity was investigated on vegetative response and production of three Italian olive cultivars (‘Raggia’, ‘Maurino’ and ‘Leccino’) in central Italy. From 2009 to 2011, pruning was performed on 5-years-old olive trees in early spring (after bud break) at two intensity levels (minimal and heavy) and in late spring (after full bloom) at a heavy intensity. A control set of plants was left unpruned during the experiment. Results showed that the absence of pruning minimized water sprouts growth and initially generated the highest yield. The productive advantage offered by not pruning decreased at the third year. After 3 years of no pruning, the plants showed an excessive height, shading of the central portion of the canopy, and negligible vegetative growth, inducing an early senescence of the productive branches and necessitating the removal of a massive amount of dry material by applying a severe pruning operation (rejuvenation) at the end of the trial. The early spring minimal pruning technique led to the lowest amount of pruning material and provided a consistent increase in plant production compared to heavy pruning. Late spring pruning did not provide competitive advantages in terms of vegetative re-sprouting control nor yield compared to early pruning. This preliminary study suggests early spring minimal pruning in central Italy as the best practice to increase stability in yield and to control the vegetative growth of olive trees in semi-intensive orchards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• No varietal resistance to olive knot within the considered germplasm. • Different disease incidence and severity in different varieties and groves. • Incidence and severity of olive knot were correlated with frost damage. • Frost damage was more severe in oldest branches than in young 2-yrs old branches. • Deacclimation by mild winter followed by late frost; likely the cause of frost damage. Olive knot is among the most relevant diseases affecting olive cultivation. Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi (Pss) is recognized as the causative agent of this disease. Its penetration in the plant occurs through wounds in all the aerial plant tissues. Frost, or hailstorm damages to the bark of shoots, branches and trunk might expose plants to higher risks of infection. In the coldest regions where freezing events may occur regularly, an employment of tolerant varieties to cold, or to Pss infection represents a valuable approach for limiting tree damages. However, the relationship between the tolerance to different frost types and the susceptibility to Pss disease in different organs (trunk, branches of different age) might be not univocal and rather change among olive tree varieties. In the Marche region of central Italy, the damages occurring during late winter frosts (end of February) and caused by olive knot disease were investigated. Our work considered 10 locally, nationally and internationally known cultivars that were studied under field conditions in 6 different groves in Marche region. In all the groves, olive knot incidence and severity were positively correlated with frost damaged organs. All the varieties were damaged by the late winter frost and showed olive knot disease symptoms after 6 months. 'Piantone di Mogliano', 'FS-17' and 'Frantoio' were the most affected cultivars. 'Carboncella', 'Maurino' and 'Arbequina' showed an intermediate susceptibility, whereas 'Ascolana Tenera' 'Leccino', 'Piantone di Falerone', 'Rosciola Colli Esini' resulted tolerant to this peculiar late frost and olive knot infection. The >3-year-old branches were generally more damaged in comparison to younger branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study promotes the valorization of Fabriano-like fermented sausages, which are central-Italy salami with an origin that dates to the early 17th century, for the possible future selection of autochthonous starter cultures to be used with respect to local traditions. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to define the microbial dynamics in Fabriano-like fermented sausage and the effect of nitrates/nitrites and starter cultures on its natural bacterial biota. Culture and RNA-based techniques (RT-PCR-DGGE and Illumina sequencing) were used to assess the microbial ecology of model Fabriano-like fermented sausages together with the impact of starter cultures and different nitrate and nitrite concentrations. The meat batter was used to produce two batches of fermented sausages that were prepared as follows: i) without commercial starters or ii) with the use of starter cultures composed of Pediococcus pentosaceus and Staphylococcus xylosus. Each batch was further divided into three different batches with the addition of 0/0 mg kg -1 nitrate/nitrite, 75/60 mg kg -1 nitrate/nitrite and 150/125 mg kg -1 nitrate/nitrite to the first, second and third batch, respectively. The samples, which were produced in triplicate, were analyzed on the day of production and after 7, 21, and 42 days of ripening. Enterobacteriaceae counts were always higher in model Fabriano-like sausages produced without the use of starter cultures at all of the sampling times irrespective of the tested nitrate/nitrite concentrations. Lactobacilli counts were positively influenced by the starters, although this influence was not evident over time; moreover, the effect of nitrates and nitrites on the counts of lactobacilli differed over time. As a general trend, coagulase-negative cocci counts were apparently not influenced by the tested nitrate/nitrite concentrations. Regarding the effect of nitrates/nitrites on the microbial diversity revealed by RT-PCR-DGGE, the higher the concentration, the lower the presence of some genera/species such as Pseudomonas spp., Serratia liquefaciens and Staphylococcus spp. However, Illumina sequencing detected Pseudomonas spp. as a minority species after 7, 21 and 42 days of ripening irrespective of the nitrate/nitrite concentration. The presence of Staphylococcus species was highlighted by both RT-PCR-DGGE and Illumina sequencing at all of the stages of ripening, although its presence was massively detected in fermented sausages produced without the use of nitrates/nitrites at the end of ripening. Overall, the data collected clearly highlighted the dominance of Lactobacillus sakei in all of the fermented sausages during ripening (from day 7 to day 42) and irrespective of the nitrate/nitrite concentration and added starter cultures. Moreover, Pediococcus spp. was principally detected in model Fabriano-like fermented sausage with added starter cultures irrespective of the nitrate/nitrite concentration., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)