Plant and soil water status behavior under different irrigation strategies in Arbequina cv. Olive orchard

PACHECO DANIELA; OLGUIN ALFREDO; BUENO LUIS; VITA FACUNDO; CAPRARO FLAVIO

ACTA HORTICULTURAE

International Society for Horticultural Science

Año: 2011 vol. 889 p. 311 - 316

0567-7572

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the behaviour of different plant and soil physiological parameters in order to use them as an olive irrigation scheduling tool. Several irrigation treatments, based on regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategies, were applied to a six-year-old high density olive orchard (‘Arbequina’): (T3) RDI from fruit set to harvest, (T2) RDI during pit hardening period and (T1) fully irrigated as a control. The soil water content (SWC) was continuously measured with a capacitive (FDR) sensor in order to manage the irrigation strategies. Pre-dawn (ψpre-dawn), midday (ψl) and stem (ψstem) water potentials were periodically measured, showing a high correlation among them (R2>0.7). There was a low correlation among the three water potential measurements and the SWC (R2&lt0.4) when the whole stress period was evaluated. Nevertheless, a few days after the beginning of the T2 treatment a higher correlation (R2=0.60) was observed between ψpre-dawn versus SWC. During the same period, ψpre-dawn was more sensitive to water deficit indicating that it is the most reliable tool for irrigation scheduling. However, the high correlation between ψpre-dawn/ψl and ψpre-dawn/ψstem and the low vapor pressure deficit (VPD) influence observed in diurnal measurements on leaf water potential make the use of such diurnal indicators interesting due to their ease when incorporated into commercial orchards