Pinus pinea research

Pinus pinea L., stone pine or umbrela pine, is becoming more important in Portugal due to its adaptability to dry environments and the high value of its edible kernels, the "pine nuts". Portugal is at the moment the country with the second largest area of stone pine (Pinus pinea), after Spain. It has 83,900 ha; the Iberian Peninsula accounts, approximately for 75% of stone pine distribution. Due to its favorable site and climate conditions Portugal has, on average, higher cone yields per unit area than Spain.

At moment Pinus pinea research is looking for funding to the PINEA Project to have conditions to undertake this work. The main objectives of the PINEA Project are:

(i) the calibration and validation of a process based model for Pinus pinea in Portugal. This model will allow estimation of the productivity of existing stone pine plantations in the context of climate change, considering different climate scenarios, and will provide a tool to support decision-making regarding new plantings;

(ii) evaluation of the effects of water and nutrient availability on Pinus pinea growth and cone yields;

(iii) to improve existing empirical modeling equations relating to growth and cone yield of Pinus pinea.