Flowering, a Critical Phenological Stage as a Limiting Factor for Almond Native Ecotypes Cultivation in Eastern Morocco

Almond is the most important nut crops in Morocco with an area of 151 kha and an average production of 99,000 tons (Houmy et al., 2016; MAPM, 2014). Almond Branch in eastern Morocco is supported by a Belgium program for agriculture and rural development (PROFAO 2011-2017). The aim of this project is to expand the growing area of the almond tree by planting 6,000 ha of new orchards and by installing new units for crushing almonds in shell. Ferragnes/ Ferraduel (F/F) is the main couple of new introduced varieties due to their late blooming in March permitting to escape the adverse effects of January and February frosts. Currently, this region benefits from another project which is considered a continuation of the PROFAO and aims to develop the almond sector by the characterization of cultivated varieties and the valorization of their final products. Thus this preliminary study concerns (i) the observation of two biological parameters of local ecotypes “Beldi” which are typically considered to be early flowering almond trees. (ii) Due to their small size and narrow shape, these local almond nuts are mainly used to produce almond oils for cosmetic uses. Thus because the fruits of these Beldi almond ecotypes are mainly used for almond’s oil extraction, we compare the oils of these Beldi almonds to those of the newly introduced varieties “Ferragnes/Ferraduel”.