Effects of different irrigation regimes on a super-high-density olive grove cv. “Arbequina”: vegetative growth, productivity and polyphenol content of the oil

Abstract

The effects of multiple irrigation regimes on the relationships among tree water status, vegetative growth and productivity within a super-high-density (SHD) “Arbequina” olive grove (1950 tree/ha) were studied for three seasons (2008–2010). Five different irrigation levels calculated as percentage of crop irrigation requirement using FAO procedures (Allen et al. in Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. Irrigation and drainage paper 56. FAO, Rome, 1998) were imposed during the growing season. Periodically during the growing season, daytime stem water potential (ΨSTEM), inflorescences per branch, fruits per inflorescence and shoot absolute growth rate were measured. Crop yield, fruit average fresh weight and oil polyphenol content were measured after harvest. The midday ΨSTEM ranged from −7 to −1.5 MPa and correlated well enough with yield efficiency, crop density and fruit fresh weight to demonstrate its utility as a precise method for determining water status in SHD olive orchards. The relationships between midday ΨSTEM and the horticultural parameters suggest maintaining ΨSTEM values between −3.5 and −2.5 MPa is optimal for moderate annual yields of good quality oil. Values below −3.5 MPa reduced current season productivity, while values over −2.5 MPa were less effective in increasing productivity, reduced oil quality and produced excessive crop set that strongly affected vegetative growth and fruit production the following season. On the basis of the result given here, irrigation scheduling in the new SHD orchards should be planned on a 2-year basis and corrected annually based on crop load. Collectively, these results suggest that deficit irrigation management is a viable strategy for SHD olive orchards

Gas Exchanges and Stem Water Potential Define Stress Thresholds for Efficient Irrigation Management in Olive (Olea europea L.)

“…This suggests irrigation parameters may also need to change. Irrigation is generally based on orchard water use (e.g., crop evapotranspiration, ETc), but multiple studies have demonstrated this method, because it does not consider plant water status, may overestimate the irrigation required for optimal yield [7][8][9] and reduce orchard water use efficiency.…”

“…Among the current water status measurements available, stem water potential (Ψ SWP ) measured at midday, is the most reliable, and most widely studied [7,[12][13][14][15]. It is used as reference of water status to calibrate new methodologies, define waters stress levels and manage deficit irrigation methodologies.…”

“…In this study, we aim to characterize the relationship between midday stem water potential and gas exchange for olive at variable crop conditions. We used a large dataset from two different experiments carried out in recent years [7,17].…”

Effect of Irrigation Level and Irrigation Frequency on the Growth of Mini Chinese Cabbage and Residual Soil Nitrate Nitrogen

“…Water is the main factor influencing the yield and quality of vegetables [27,28]. Scientific irrigation methods and regimes can effectively promote crop growth and nutrient absorption [29] and control pests and diseases [30]. Drip irrigation can maintain the soil in a good condition suitable for crop growth and is conducive to high crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE) [31][32][33].…”

How Can We Make Chinese Consumers like Table Olive: A Review and Some Suggestions to the Researchers

“…Among these, 700 reported studies on olive cultivation. With the constant expansion in cultivation area, cultivation technology under different site conditions has become a study focus, and high density and super-high density planting has gradually developed into a high profile field in studies of table olives and olives for oil extraction due to the significant yield improvements and other benefits, although they frequently have a negative impact on the environment [31,32,33,34]. In total, 164 papers reported studies on harvesting, and recent high-profile topics include mechanized harvesting technology and efficiency, and damage identification and reduction, especially the application of UAV photography technology in harvesting and the management of olive plantations [35,36,37,38,39].…”