The International OLIVEBIOTEQ 2018 Conference "Olive Management, Biotechnology and Authenticity of Olive Products” was held at Hotel Silken Al-Andalus Palace Seville in Seville, Spain, between 15 and 19 of October 2018. The conference was organized by the Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología and the Instituto de la Grasa, both located in Seville and belonging to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Τhis event was attended by more than 250 participants from 16 countries from all over the world, including researchers, organizations and companies related to the olive tree and olive products. The conference covered key topics of the olive crop and olive products, focusing on research, technological, industrial and commercial aspects. Scientific contributions were combined with displays by exhibitors to showcase their products and services related to table olives and olive oil.
The titles and the subject of the posters related to the LIFE AgroClimaWater project that were presented in the conference are the following:
i) "Improving Water Use Efficiency at Farmers’ Organization Level”, authored by G. Arampatzis, V. Pisinaras, E. Pavlidou, N. Kourgialas, G. Psarras, G. Koubouris, E. Hatzigiannakis, G. Sismani and A. Panagopoulos. This paper aims to present the preliminary results from the Agricultural Cooperative Partnership "Mirabello Union S.A.” located at Havgas-Milatos sub-basin in eastern Crete- Greece enhancement. In the context of the Agroclimawater project, agricultural practices along with mean annual productivity, average annual water use, use of PPPs and fertilizers were monitored at 101 olive orchards in the area. According to the monitoring results, an assessment of current agriculture practices impact is performed indicating significant improvement potential. Subsequently, a wide range of good agricultural practices were identified and combined in farm specific actions plans. Farm specific action plans are compiled and implemented at 10 pilot farms aiming mainly at improving water efficiency at farm scale.
ii) "Improving the Water Efficiency of Olive Trees Under Proper Agricultural Interventions”, authored by G. Morianou, N. Kourgialas, G. Psarras, G. Koubouris, G. Sismani, V. Pisinaras and G. Arampatzis. The presented work aims at improving the water efficiency of tree crops in a pilot farm, in eastern Crete – Greece, under proper agricultural interventions. The selected pilot farm represents the most typical crop in eastern Crete (olive trees). The pilot farm has been divided in two parts, the first one is used as a control part, while the other one as the demonstration part where the interventions are applied. The interventions applied in order to improve water efficiency are: a) reduction of water evaporation losses from soil surface, b) reduction of transpiration water losses through proper pruning, c) reduction of deep percolation water and nutrient losses, d) application of organic materials, and e) irrigation according to the water crop needs.
For more information visit the official conference’s website: https://olivebioteqsevilla2018.com/.