In Romania, fruit growing was and still is located especially in the hilly areas due to both natural and socio - economical considerations. So, in the hilly regions the most favorable temperature conditions for the major fruit trees were met as average and extreme values with lower winter and summer differences between night and day. Precipitation also showed a more uniform time distribution than in plains and ranged between 600 and 800 mm. Rainfall requirements are mainly met for the main fruit trees.
The higher weight of the hilly orchards versus the ones in the plains was also determined by the higher population density and lower surface area per capita. These considerations, among others, contributed a lot as the major part of farmers in these regions to mainly concern for fruit growing which is more efficient from the economical point of view versus other field crops.
Almost 75 % of the eroded soils containing orchards are situated on higher than 5 % land slopes as well as about 50 % of the total orchard soils are located on land slopes higher than 20 %.
From the textural view point 63 % of the Romanian orchards are located on heavy - clay soils and only 30 % on medium textured soils. Due to the high clay soil content the above soils possess a high compaction degree which is responsible for a less favorable soil-air-water regime. Hence, almost 25 % of the orchard soils have a deficient air porosity and almost 19 % of them show a process (pseudogleyzation).
Because of a low soil water permeability and available water capacity the heavy - clay soils show a temporary water excess, annually during the first half of the growing season, while a soil water deficit is usually met in the second half of the season when in some circumstances irrigation should be applied.
As a consequence of the high percentage of erosion and bad soil - air - water regime the soil fertility is rather poor. Hence, a global analysis of the orchard soils in Romania shows that almost 62 % of them show a poor and very poor fertility.
Consequently, fruit yields from most of the orchards are lower than those located on more fertile soils such as the alluvial soils from the same regions.
Fruit yield decreasing is usually determined by the lower fruit size, specifically for apple and pear, but also for plum which is the basic fruit tree in this country and is spread over 50 % of the total orchards area.
The fruits obtained under the above conditions, yet smaller in size, have a higher firmness, are better colored, present a higher content in dry matter, are more flavored and posses a better preservation capacity over winter like apple and pear do.
