Pods and fruits for human or livestock consumption: The listing of criteria
relevant to both the assessment process itself and to the monitoring is faced
with more difficulties than with fuelwood as it involves a whole range of
factors to be considered, such as allometric parameters linked to phenological
behaviour and morphological developments. The criteria which have to be
considered and to be provided with the yield figures for data evaluation
purposes are the following:
- age or development stage of harvested trees (e.g. maturity, health, crown
size, etc.)
- stand of the harvested tree, either as an isolated single tree or as part of a
cluster/stand of trees. This is important with regard to light reception and
exposure to precipitation influencing growth, flowering and fruiting
- size and composition (homogeneous/heterogeneous) of samples
- seasonality and frequency of fruit bearing