Abstract
Growth, leaf assimilation rate and leaf water potential of field-grown olive plants were measured over two years after the elimination of the canopy. Canopy height reached 1.43 and 2.12 m by the end of the first and second growing season respectively. Total length of lateral shoots directly inserted on the main axis of each sucker was 11.7 m (average of four plants), whereas that of lateral shoots of the second order (inserted on first order shoots) was 6.36 m by the end of the first growing season. At the end of the first growing season the estimated leaf area per plant was 6.11 m2. In 1998 leaf assimilation rates, measured three and six months after the elimination of the canopy, were higher than in plants of older age (two- and 10-years-old), but these differences disappeared in 1999. The leaf water potential of plants during the first growing season after coppicing were significantly higher than those of plants that had been cut two, three or 10 years earlier.