Absence of Yield Reduction after Controlled Water Stress during Prehaverst Period in Table OliveTrees

Abstract

Deficit irrigation scheduling is becoming increasingly important under commercial conditions. Water status measurement is a useful tool in these conditions. However, the information about water stress levels for olive trees is scarce. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect on yield of a moderate controlled water stress level at the end of the irrigation season. The experiment was conducted in the experimental farm of La Hampa (Coria del Río, Seville, Spain) during three years. A completely randomized block design was performed using three different irrigation treatments. Deficit irrigation was applied several (4 or 2) weeks before harvest. Irrigation was controlled using the midday stem water potential, with a threshold value of −2 MPa and compared with a full irrigated treatment. This water stress did not reduced gas exchange during the deficit period. The effect on yield was not significant in any of the three seasons. In the high-fruit load season, fruit volume was slightly affected (around 10%), but this was not significant at harvest. Results suggest an early affection of fruit growth with water stress, but with a slow rate of decrease. Moderate water stress could be useful for the management of deficit irrigation in table olive trees.

Establishing a Reference Baseline for Midday Stem Water Potential in Olive and Its Use for Plant-Based Irrigation Management

“…At or near baseline, (> about −1.5 MPa) Girón et al, 2015;Corell et al, 2020;Martin-Palomo et al, 2020 Oil quantity and quality (oil olives)…”

“…SWP might not be the best indicator for detecting a final effect on fruit size during recovery from water stress because no differences in SWP were related to slight differences in fruit size (Girón et al, 2015;Corell et al, 2020). However, if no previous deficit irrigation has been applied, a moderate water stress could be applied with no fruit size reduction (Martin-Palomo et al, 2020). Oil accumulation is more tolerant than fruit growth to water deficit (Gómez del Campo et al, 2014).…”

“…Morales-Sillero et al (2013) measured leaf rather than SWP in olive trees, but also did not report any relation of water potential to VPD. A number of studies in olive have found a linear relation of SWP to VPD (Morales-Sillero et al, 2013;Corell et al, 2016Corell et al, , 2020Martin-Palomo et al, 2020), indicating that a relationship exists, but may be influenced by a number of factors, potentially including unintended effects of dry soil areas.…”

Impact of Gastrointestinal In Vitro Digestion and Deficit Irrigation on Antioxidant Activity and Phenolic Content Bioaccessibility of “Manzanilla” Table Olives

“…Also, irrigation was carried out during night by one lateral pipe per tree row and five emitters (each delivering 8 L h − 1 ) per plant. Specific agronomy characteristics could be found in [5]. Different locations were used because of land availability, although, as explained before, similar conditions characterized the field and weather.…”

Identification of water stress conditions in olive trees through frequencies of trunk growth rate

“…A moderate water stress around full bloom (Moriana et al, 2003) or fruit set (Gómez del Campo, 2013;Gucci et al, 2019) decreased the current or the next season yield, and two important olive fruit features, size and amount of oil, could be equally affected if water stress is not controlled. Fruit growth was very sensitive to water stress, although the size could be recovered (Girón et al, 2015) or controlled when then midday stem water potential was more positive than − 2 MPa (Martin-Palomo et al, 2020). The oil accumulation period has been considered a sensitive one (Lavee and Wodner, 1991), although some works suggested an increase oil rate under water stress conditions (Moriana et al, 2003;Lavee et al, 2007).…”