Deficit irrigation strategies of flat peach trees under semi-arid conditions

Threshold Values of Plant Water Status for Scheduling Deficit Irrigation in Early Apricot Trees

“…'Rojo Carlet' presented a slightly lower S Ψ of approximately 127.6 MPa day, when considering a single maximum CTL value for Ψ s of −0.42 MPa (Figure 1). Similarly, Temnani et al [22] found in flat peach trees that a water stress integral during post-harvest of 58 MPa day significantly reduced trunk growth, while it was not affected when S Ψ was 30 MPa day. The different S Ψ values obtained depending on the reference value used (a single value or different values from well-irrigated trees obtained during the period considered), should be standardized, in order to compare in a more accurate and useful way the response to water stress of a crop in different growing conditions.…”

“…In our case, the beginning of fruit growth stage III and late post-harvest periods required approximately 640 and 1840 • C GDD from full bloom (≈1st of February), respectively (Figure 1A). Recently, Temnani et al [22] delimited the cumulative thermal integral at the beginning of these two stages, approximately 577 and 1400 • C GDD, in flat peach trees cv. Carioca.…”

“…This, along with the imperative to reduce pressure over water resources from agriculture and to minimize the environmental impact, highlights the need to incorporate tools and strategies for irrigation scheduling that do not affect yield and fruit quality and maximize the irrigation water productivity. In this sense, the regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), i.e., reduce the water supply during a stage(s) of crop development with low sensitivity to water deficit [13], has been a validated strategy in several stone fruits to reduce water inputs in temperate zones, such as nectarine [14,15], sweet cherry [16,17], peach [18][19][20][21], flat peach [22], plum [23], almond [24][25][26] and apricot trees [1,10]. In apricot trees, the defined periods as sensitive to water deficit are the second rapid fruit growth stage and the early post-harvest, as they reduce fruit size and fruit number for the following season, respectively [1,10,27].…”

“…In this sense, an irrigation threshold of a Ψ s of −1.8 MPa and a cumulative S Ψ close to 28 MPa day until the fruits reach 60% of their final size should be considered for RDI in mandarin [35,37]. Recently, Temnani et al [22] stated that in flat peach the non-sensitive period to water deficit would extend until the fruits reach 60% of their size and a cumulative S Ψ of 30 MPa per day should be considered in order not to affect the crop sustainability in the medium term. For elaborating thresholds adaptable to other zones, the growing degree days (GDD) accumulation model proposed by Richardson et al [38] is useful to delimit the specific periods for RDI, sometimes difficult to detect, on a more extrapolable scale.…”

Agronomic strategies to cope with wáter scarcity and increase the sustainability of mandarin tres under semi-arid conditions

“…Despite this, due to the low water availability in terms of total volume and temporality, it is very common that irrigation scheduling does not satisfy the water requirement of woody crops, so that they are almost permanently under deficit irrigation (DI) conditions (CARM, 2020;. However, for DI not to affect yield, it is necessary that irrigation be reduced during the period(s) when the crop is not sensitive , and to significantly increase the crop water productivity (WP c ) it is key that irrigation scheduling by traditional methods, such as FAO balance are validated and monitored by plant and soil water status indicators Conesa et al, 2022de la Rosa et al, 2016, 2009Temnani et al, 2023aTemnani et al, , 2023bTemnani et al, , 2021.…”