Spatial Prediction Model of Plant Water Status of an Olive Orchard (Olea europaea L.) cv. Arbequina Under Semiarid Conditions in the Central Valley of Chile

Abstract

The Olive (Olea europaea L.) is a typical fruit tree of Mediterranean areas characterized by high-quality oil production and high tolerance to water deficit. Due to worldwide water scarcity in Mediterranean regions, it becomes indispensable to monitor plant water status, in example, through xylem water potential (Ψx). Unfortunately, measurement is difficult to perform with high spatial resolution at field scale (> 50 measurements per hectare), due to the large amount of manpower required in the prosses which turned this technique into a high-cost solution. This situation drastically hinders its applicability in large production areas. Thus, the objective of this research is implementing a spatial prediction model of plant water status in an olive orchard, using a single Ψx measurement performed in a reference site over the orchard. The experimental site was established in 2.2 hectares of commercial olive trees in the Pencahue valley located in the Maule region (Chile) during the 2013/14 growing season. Measurements of Ψx were performed at key phenological stages of olive trees. The proposed methodology allowed to estimate the behavior of Ψx in unsampled olive trees from reference site measurements, with an average spatial error less than ±0.6 MPa and correlation of 0.8 (R2) ratifying the high spatial dependence between different sites sampled at field scale. Therefore, distribution of spatial variability would be adequate for the application of irrigation in homogeneous management zones, facilitating water management practices in clearly identified zones within the olive orchard under study.