Plum production in Italy: state of art and perspectives

The plum industry in Italy has shown substantial stability during the last ten years. About 14.000 hectares are currently grown using Japanese (75%) and European plum cultivars (25%). The most important destination is for fresh consumption, although a small production of dried fruits is still produced. The main growing areas are located in Emilia Romagna and Campania Regions where more than 50% of the total amount of the national commercial yield is gathered. At the recent Plum National Meeting, that was held in 2006 at Agrigento (Sicily) the main aspects related to breeding, cultivar assessment, rootstock trials, training systems and post-harvest management were pointed out. With this reference, this introductory lecture will briefly review these aspects, highlighting the most important traits of plum production in Italy as well as the development opportunities in new different areas where other stone fruits are traditionally grown.