INVESTIGADORES
ROUSSEAUX Maria Cecilia
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Ecophysiological responses in olive to post‐harvest regulated deficit irrigation in arid Argentina
Autor/es:
AGUERO ALCARAS, L.M.; ROUSSEAUX, M. C.; SEARLES, P.S.
Lugar:
Nazareth, Israel
Reunión:
Simposio; International Symposium on Olive Irrigation and Oil Quality; 2009
Resumen:
Olive production in northwest Argentina has expanded from 30,000 to almost 100,000ha over the last twenty years due in large part to economic incentives and use of newtechnologies such as drip irrigation. Many of the new production areas receive between100‐200 mm of rainfall per year and rely on belowground water supply. Thus, anefficient use of irrigation water will be important to maintain stable production overthe long term. We evaluated the ecophysiological responses of 10‐year‐old “ManzanillaFina” trees to post‐harvest regulated deficit irrigation from mid‐summer to mid‐fall2009 (approx. 80 days) using the following irrigation levels: 100% cropevapotranspiration (ETc; control), 66% ETc, 33% ETc, and without irrigation. Such anevaluation is possible due to the very early harvest of table olives in the region (29° Slatitude) that occurs because of high spring and summer temperatures that rapidlyadvance flowering and fruit phenology. The trunk growth rate (TGR) of the unirrigatedtrees decreased to near zero over the first two weeks of the experiment as measuredwith point dendrometers, while differences between the 33% ETc treatment and thecontrol were not apparent for several weeks. Few, if any, differences occurred in themaximum daily shrinkage between treatments. In general terms, foliar conductanceand shoot water potential responded similarly to TGR. However, TGR indicated somedifferences between the 66% ETc treatment and the control, while foliar conductanceand shoot water potential did not. Yield components of these trees will be measuredthe following spring and summer to better assess the potential for using post‐harvestregulated deficit irrigation for table olive production in Arid Argentina.