Early Splitting and Irregular Cracking Hull on Pistachio Cultivars (Pistacia vera L.) in North-East of Iran

Khorasan province (North-East of Iran) with more than 50000 hectares pistachio orchards is one of the greatest producer areas of pistachio in Iran. The main challenge for the export of Iranian pistachios is aflatoxin contamination. According to studies, early splitting and irregular cracking hull in the pistachio orchards are the most important factors making the pistachio susceptible to aflatoxin contamination. This study was done on 12 pistachio cultivars named: 'Badami sefid', 'Barg seyah', 'Pesteh gharmez', 'Pesteh garmeh', 'Daneshmandi', 'Abasali', 'Khanjari', 'Shahpasand', 'Owhadi', 'Kale ghochi', 'Akbari', and 'Momtaz', for 4 years (2007-2010), based on randomized complete block design with three replication in pistachio research station in Khorasan Razavi province. 'Shahpasand' cultivar with 14.8% had the most early splitting and there was significant difference (p<0.01) with other cultivars. 'Owhadi' and 'Akbari' cultivars had 2.7 and 1.7% early splitting respectively. The lowest percentage of early splitting was observed 0, 0.1 and 0.2% in three cultivars; 'Pesteh garmeh', 'Badami sefid' and 'Abasali', respectively. The highest percentage of irregular cracking hulls was obtained in 'Khanjari'.