Cv. Picholine is the major French cultivar. In general it can be considered dual purpose both for pickling and oil extraction. The tree is a medium strong tree and can be adapted to various climatic conditions. Its production under irrigation is high. The oil content, however, is medium to low but the oil is of very high quality.
Geographical
Distribution
The variety originated in southern France and together with cv. Lecques was the basis for the French olive industry. A clone with somewhat smaller fruit was introduced in Morocco and is one of the major cultivars in that country. It is also planted in Italy, Israel and various other olive growing countries. The cultivar is also important as an efficient pollinator for cv. Barnea.
Description
| Tree |
The tree is of medium vigour, the major branches up right but fruiting wood willowish. The trees are rather wide and require somewhat larger planting distances particularly within the row (5.5-6 m) as well as annual pruning. A straight long trunk is easily developed. |
| Leaf |
The inflorescencce is rather long (6-7 cm) with 19-25 rather large flowers. In various regions and years a relatively high (50%) of ‘male’ flower might develop. |
| Flower |
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| Stone |
The stone is relatively small and elongated, both the distal and proximal ends of the stone are pointed, the widest diameter is somewhat closer to the proximal side of the stone. The stone surface is relatively smooth. |
| Fruit |
The fruit is medium large (3.5-4.5 g), very uniform in both size and colour. At ‘green maturation’ the fruit is yellowish. For oil extraction, reddish-black fruit will allow optimal oil extraction and will render at that stage also the best oil aroma. Maturation is relatively late. The fruit is elliptic – elongated slightly asymmetrical. The quality of the fruit is high both for pickling as is also the quality of oil. |
Agronomic Characteristics
In France the cultivar is partially autofertile. In irrigated intensive orchards in Israel it was usually self sterile. Cv. Manzanillo is generally a good pollinator for the Picholine. Leccino, Lueque, Sigoise and Souri were also found efficient in various regions. Under non-irrigated conditions the commercial extractable oil content might reach up to 20-22%, under irrigated conditions the extractable oil will drop to 15-18% of fresh weight. The oil is rather light in colour and has a fine delicate taste. The green pickles of this cultivar are of high quality and taste particularly in the Spanish pickling style.
The trees enter relatively early into production and in intensive orchards a commercial yield (of 60% of mean potential) could be achieved in the fourth year. With good annual pruning, fruiting is quite regular unless limited by extreme environmental conditions.
The Picholine is quite resistant to siccetia oleae but considerably less to the peacock spot, olive fly and excessive chilling.
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