Problems of the cultivated olive tree south of the Saharan Atlas (Laghouat)

The olive tree has remarkable hardiness and plasticity, enabling it to produce under difficult conditions (adaptation to a wide range of soils and insufficient irrigation), but its productivity is still limited by several biotic and abiotic factors. With the return of spring, diseases and pests are back in the spotlight.Our work was carried out in an olive orchard in the Bennacer Ben Chohra area to assess the state of health of this orchard and determine the biotic and abiotic constraints influencing its development. The planting success rate is 99.02%.Several pests were identified: Otiorhynchus cibricollis (86.27%), psyllid Euphyllura olivina (82.35%), olive moth Prays olae (80.39%) and olive thrips Liothrips oleae (9.80%).Water stress and deficiencies in essential elements were also observed, with rates of 91.18% and 52.94% simultaneously.Lack of orchard maintenance and the absence of controlled irrigation are among the most suspected causes hampering the proper development of our orchard.