Influence of temperature and rainfall on fruit and seed production of Arbutus unedo L.

Correlations were found between certain climatic parameters and fresh weight, dry weight and seed number of the fruit of Arbutus unedo L. In five stations in central Italy. Temperature and rainfall were found to affect fruit production. For the parameters fresh weight and number of seeds, the first months of development were important and fresh weight was also influenced by rainfall in the last monthS. Dry weight did not show statistically significant correlation with any one of the considered parameterS. However, the pattern of temperature and rainfall over the 12-month period of fruit ripening determined the characteristics of the fruit.