Agronomic response and water productivity of almond trees under contrasted deficit irrigation regimes

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• 作者：Gregorio Egea ; Pedro A. Nortes ; Marí ; a M. Gonzá ; lez-Real ; Alain Baille ; Rafael Domingo
• 关键词：Prunus dulcis ; Regulated deficit irrigation ; Partial root-zone drying ; Water stress ; Yield ; Vegetative growth
• 刊名：Agricultural Water Management
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：January 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：97
• 期：1
• 页码：171-181
• 全文大小：565 K

文摘

We investigated the long-term effects of different deficit irrigation (DI) options on tree growth, shoot and leaf attributes, yield determinants and water productivity of almond trees (Prunus dulcis, cv. Marta) grown in a semiarid climate in SE Spain. Three partial root-zone drying (PRD) irrigation treatments encompassing a wide range of water restriction (30 % , 50 % and 70 % of full crop requirements, ET_c) and a regulated deficit irrigation treatment (RDI, at 50 % ET_c during kernel-filling) were compared over three consecutive growth seasons (2004–2006) to full irrigation (FI). The results showed that all deficit irrigation treatments have a negative impact on trunk growth parameters. The magnitude of the reduction in trunk growth rate was strongly correlated through a linear relationship with the annual volume of water applied (WA) per tree. Similarly, a significant relationship was found between WA and the increase in crown volume. In contrast, leaf-related attributes and some yield-related parameters (e.g., kernel fraction) were not significantly affected by the irrigation treatments. Except in PRD₇₀, individual kernel weight was significantly reduced in the deficit irrigated treatments. Kernel yield, expressed in percent of the maximum yield observed in the FI treatment, showed a linear decrease with decreasing WA and a slope of 0.43, which implies that a 1 % decrease in water application would lead to a reduction of 0.43 % in yield. Water productivity increased drastically with the reduction of water application, reaching 123 % in the case of PRD₃₀. Overall, our results demonstrate the prevalence of direct and strong links between the intensity of the water restriction under PRD – i.e., the total water supply during the growing season – and the main parameters related to tree growth, yield and water productivity. Noteworthy, the treatments that received similar annual water volumes under contrasted deficit irrigation strategies (i.e., PRD₇₀ and RDI) presented a similar tree performance.