Peru, agriculturally, presents unique agro-edaphoclimatic characteristics for the production of avocados and other fruits. It is well known that Peru has achieved peak yields in most of the fruits it cultivates, but in the face of the El Niño phenomenon, some species in the northern region, such as avocados, table grapes, mangoes, and blueberries, showed a degree of vulnerability in their ability to produce a flowering of sufficient intensity to maintain those high yields. In contrast, in the southern region, this year—in the case of avocados—is expected to be another year of high productivity, averaging around 30 tons per hectare in well-managed orchards.

Neighboring countries like Chile, facing a persistently adverse situation in relation to Despite drought, heat waves, and frosts, flowering was not significantly affected, experiencing only a delay in this phenological stage. In contrast, in Colombia, where constant rainfall is a result of these phenomena, avocado trees flower intensely, exhibiting two flowering periods per year (main and off-season). So, how can we explain this decrease in flowering in northern Peru, where there was rainfall and a temperature increase of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius? (The temperature also increased by this amount in the southern region, but flowering did occur.)

Perhaps without being an expert on the Mango species, I think that by observing its behavior This may explain, in some way, what happened in the north. It has been well noted that the lack of cold weather was the reason the mangoes didn't bloom last spring. Understanding that the mango originated in India, where it's not cold, and considering the countries where it's cultivated in warm climates like Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia, so why if Why does it bloom when there's no cold? The answer may lie in technical management, specifically in terms of reserve accumulation, irrigation, and pruning, rather than a climatic issue. Perhaps the mild Peruvian climate has led us to expect good results by repeating similar management practices year after year. With even small changes in temperature and rainfall, the tree becomes unruly, and the management practices haven't adapted to the new reality.

In the case of avocados in the Olmos area, it's interesting to note that the older trees flowered earlier than the younger ones, when it should have been the other way around. Furthermore, orchards managed with careful pruning to create partial shade behaved normally, and because pruning wasn't excessive, these orchards weren't affected in terms of flowering.

As a summary of the child's behavior to date, we have:

• Mature orchards: flowered intensely, with a high percentage of determinate flowers. It was difficult to get vigorous new growth in spring, but the shoot of

In summer it is observed to have good vigor and color (a mistake would be to weaken it as is done in many fields).

• Young orchards: they flowered later.

Mature orchards also flowered later, but they have an earlier generation of fruit compared to young orchards.

• The flowering was long this spring, with the event lasting until December and the beginning of January.

• To date, the north shows a more delayed fruit development in relation to the rest of the world, but given Due to the temperatures and fruit growth rate, it is not yet possible to accurately predict the harvest date for the northern region. The southern one is on the normal date, as every year.

• It can be deduced that given this disordered flowering, the harvest will present high variability in dry matter; therefore, early harvesting will present risks of falling into low dry matter and falling into fruit quality.

Marco Mattar

catomattar@gmail.com