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Response of young bearing olive trees to irrigation-induced salinity

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Abstract

Expansion of irrigated olives, combined with prevalence of water containing dissolved salts, leads to irrigation-induced exposure of olive trees to salinity. Root zone salinity can rise either as a function of increasing input irrigation water salinity (ECi) or relative reductions in water for leaching. We investigated five ECi levels from 0.5 to 11.0 dS m−1 with a constant leaching fraction (LF) of 0.29 and five leaching levels from 0.05 to 0.44 (drainage: irrigation ratio) with water of ECi = 5.0 dS m−1 on young bearing Olea europaea cv Barnea olive trees grown in 2.5 m3 weighing-drainage lysimeters over three years. Tree-scale response to increased salinity did not demonstrate any sign of a threshold value and was not differentiated by the cause of salinity, be it changes in input irrigation water salt concentrations or changes in LF. Soil salinity, measured as electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste extract (ECe) and maintained at stable levels over time, decreased tree water consumption and tree size measured as trunk area or above-ground biomass by 40–60 % as it increased from 1.2 to around 3.5–4.0 dS m−1. Further increases in ECe to as high as 7.5 dS m−1 brought these parameters to 20–30 % of the treatment with low salinity. Fruit yield also decreased with increasing salinity, albeit with less drastic relative effects. An analytical model calculating water and salt balance and subsequent evapotranspiration or biomass as a function of irrigation water quantity and salinity successfully predicted the measured results.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by The Israel Olive Board, The ICA in Israel Charitable Organization, The Negev Highlands R&D Center, and The ARO Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Students from India and China. Dr. Euguene Presnov, a vital and important member of our research team, passed away sadly and suddenly while this manuscript was under preparation. We dedicate it to his memory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Physics and Irrigation, Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Research Center, 85280, Mobile Post Negev 2, Israel

    A. Ben-Gal, I. Beiersdorf, N. Soda & E. Presnov

  2. Department of Soil Chemistry, Plant Nutrition and Microbiology, Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Research Center, 85280, Mobile Post Negev 2, Israel

    U. Yermiyahu

  3. Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Research Center, 85280, Mobile Post Negev 2, Israel

    N. Soda, I. Zipori & A. Dag

  4. Soil Physics and Land Management, Wageningen University Environmental Sciences, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    R. Ramirez Crisostomo

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  1. A. Ben-Gal
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  2. I. Beiersdorf
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  3. U. Yermiyahu
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  4. N. Soda
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  5. E. Presnov
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  7. R. Ramirez Crisostomo
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  8. A. Dag
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Correspondence to A. Ben-Gal.

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Communicated by E. Fereres.

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Ben-Gal, A., Beiersdorf, I., Yermiyahu, U. et al. Response of young bearing olive trees to irrigation-induced salinity. Irrig Sci 35, 99–109 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-016-0525-5

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