CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Olive production in northwest Argentina has expanded from 30,000 to almost 100,000 ha over the last twenty years due in large part to economic incentives and use of new technologies such as drip irrigation. Many of the new production areas receive between 100-200 mm of rainfall per year and rely on belowground water supply. Thus, an efficient use of irrigation water will be important to maintain stable production over the long term. We evaluated the ecophysiological responses of 10-year-old Manzanilla Fina trees to post-harvest regulated deficit irrigation from mid-summer to mid-fall 2009 (approx. 80 days) using the following irrigation levels: 100% crop evapotranspiration (ETc; control), 66% ETc, 33% ETc, and without irrigation. Such an evaluation is possible due to the very early harvest of table olives in the region (29° S latitude) that occurs because of high spring and summer temperatures that rapidly advance flowering and fruit phenology. The trunk growth rate (TGR) of the unirrigated trees decreased to near zero over the first two weeks of the experiment as measured with point dendrometers, while differences between the 33% ETc treatment and the control were not apparent for several weeks. Few; if any differences, occured in the maximum daily shrinkage between treatments. In general terms, foliar conductance and shoot water potential responded similarly to TGR. However, TGR indicated some differences between the 66% ETc treatment and the control, while foliar conductance and shoot water potential did not. Yield components of these trees will be measured the following spring and summer to better assess the potential for using post-harvest regulated deficit irrigation for table olive production in Arid Argentina.

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