Effects of Irrigation with Treated Wastewater on Root and Fruit Mineral Elements of Chemlali Olive Cultivar

Abstract

Twenty-year-old “Chemlali” olive trees trained to vase and rainfed were investigated in either “on” (2004) or “off” (2003) year. A randomized block design with three blocks and three treatments was used and each experimental plot consisted of nine olive trees. Three treatments were applied: (1) rainfed conditions (RF, used as control treatment); (2) irrigation with well water (WW); and (3) irrigation with treated wastewater (TWW). Irrigation with TWW led to a significant increase of root N, P, Ca, Zn, Mn, Na, and Cl concentrations, in particular in the on-year. Data showed significant differences, between the two years, for the concentration of the mineral elements in the roots, with general lower values in the on-year, probably as a consequence of nutrients movement upward in the tree. Fruit N, P, K, Zn, Mn, and Cl contents were significantly higher in TWW irrigated trees with respect to both RF and WW trees, whereas similar values for Ca, Mg, Na, and Cl contents were measured for WW and TWW irrigated trees. The irrigation with TWW allowed to reuse problematic waters and to save nutrients inputs in the olive orchard thus moving towards a more sustainable management of olive orchards in countries where water is the major limiting factor for agriculture.

Ripening Indices, Olive Yield and Oil Quality in Response to Irrigation With Saline Reclaimed Water and Deficit Strategies

“…There are some studies where the saline RW has been used to irrigate olive trees in Mediterranean countries (Greece, Israel, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Egypt, and Tunisia), which reported that the tolerance to salinity depends on the olive varieties. Most of the works evaluated soil properties and leaf nutrients (Aragüés et al, 2005; Ben Rouina et al, 2011; Segal et al, 2011; Petousi et al, 2015; Bourazanis et al, 2016; Erel et al, 2019), root nutrient (Bedbabis et al, 2014), vegetative growth (Kchaou et al, 2010; Ben-Gal et al, 2017), fruit nutrient (Melgar et al, 2009; Batarseh et al, 2011; Bedbabis et al, 2014), and oil yield and quality (Melgar et al, 2009; Ayoub et al, 2016; Tietel et al, 2019).…”

“…Arbosana, despite being a cultivar widely cultivated has been under-assessed; only Kchaou et al (2010) studied it in a greenhouse pot experiment with nutrient solution. Indeed, most of works used other olive cultivated varieties, such as Barnea, Leccino (Segal et al, 2011; Ben-Gal et al, 2017; Erel et al, 2019; Tietel et al, 2019), Arbequina (Aragüés et al, 2005; Rosecrance et al, 2015; Hernández et al, 2018; Hernandez-Santana et al, 2018), Chemlali (Ben Rouina et al, 2011; Bedbabis et al, 2014; Bedbabis and Ferrara, 2018), Koroneiki (Petousi et al, 2015; Bourazanis et al, 2016), Nabali Muhassan (Ayoub et al, 2016), Frantoio (Gucci et al, 2019), and Picual (Melgar et al, 2009).…”

Zinc Oxide Phytonanoparticles’ Effects on Yield and Mineral Contents in Fruits of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Cherry) under Field Conditions

“…The total soluble solids in the fruits were determined using a digital refractometer. Fruits were sampled in triplicate of each treatment (each sample one gram) [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Impact of Tannery Effluent on Wetland Birds of Dindigul District, Tamilnadu, India

“…They can also transport toxic pollutants into catchments [12] with potential transfer to the food chain. Good quality water resources are of becoming more and more scarcity of conventional water resources, due to water demand increases both for human consumption and for agricultural use, the reuse of saline, brackish, and treated waste water could be a realistic way for reducing water shortage, as it has been demonstrated in many countries in the Mediterranean basin [13]. Effluent differs from fresh water for salinity, pH and concentrations of micro-elements and nutrients.…”