Pistachio Production Research Program

This project supports improvements in the cultivation of pistachios and the uptake of new and changing production practices through research, development and extension activities. The program's specific research goals include understanding the impact of growing degree days on physiology and input requirements, investigating causes and techniques to manage pre-juvenile shoot-death dieback, understanding chill identification and optimizing techniques, investigating the role of chill and polymers in managing blanks, strengthening information gathering on practices domestically and internationally, conducting a comprehensive review of past and current pistachio research, development, and extension, ongoing development and assessment of the 'modified central leader' tree structure, collecting chill hours data and preparing reports, producing technical bulletins for technology transfer, presenting research at field days and farm walks, conducting one-on-one meetings with growers, uploading industry datasets onto the PGAI website, and publishing research results.