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A regulated deficit irrigation strategy for hedgerow olive orchards with high plant density

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Abstract

Background & Aims

There is not a consensus on the best irrigation approach for super-high density (SHD) olive orchards. Our aim was to design and test a regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) strategy for a sustainable balance between water saving, tree vigour and oil production.

Methods

We tested our RDI strategy for 3 years in an ‘Arbequina’ orchard with 1,667 trees ha−1. Two levels of irrigation reduction were applied, 60RDI and 30RDI, scaled to replacing 60 % and 30 %, respectively, of the of irrigation needs (IN). We also had a full irrigation (FI) treatment as control, with IN totalling 4,701 m3 ha−1

Results

The 30RDI treatment showed the best balance between water saving, tree vigour and oil production. With a yearly irrigation amount (IA) of 1,366 m3 ha−1, which meant 72 % water saving as compared to FI, the reduction in oil yield was 26 % only.

Conclusions

Our results, together with recent knowledge on the effect of water stress on fruit development, allowed us to suggest a potentially improved RDI strategy for which a total IA of ca. 2,100 m3 ha−1 was calculated. Both some management details and the benefits of this suggested RDI strategy are still to be tested.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and innovation (research project AGL2009-11310/AGR), by the Junta de Andalucía (research project AGR-6456-2010) and by the FEDER programme. C.M. R-D, J.M. T-R and S. E-F benefited from a FPDI research fellowship from the Junta de Andalucía, a FPI grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and a JAE-predoc fellowship of the CSIC, respectively. Antonio Montero helped us with the field and laboratory work. Thanks to the owners of Internacional Olivarera, S.A.U. (Interoliva), for allowing us to make the experiments in the Sanabria orchard. We also thank Silvia Seller, agronomist, and Juan Francisco Bernabé, foreman, for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Irrigation and Crop Ecophysiology Group, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS, CSIC), Avenida Reina Mercedes, n.º 10, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    José E. Fernández, Alfonso Perez-Martin, José M. Torres-Ruiz, María V. Cuevas, Celia M. Rodriguez-Dominguez, Sheren Elsayed-Farag, Virginia Hernandez-Santana & Antonio Diaz-Espejo

  2. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes 6, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    Celia M. Rodriguez-Dominguez

  3. Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales, ETSIA, Universidad de Sevilla, Carretera de Utrera km 1, 41013, Sevilla, Spain

    Ana Morales-Sillero

  4. Instituto de la Grasa (IG, CSIC), Avenida Padre García Tejero 4, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    José M. García

Authors
  1. José E. Fernández
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  2. Alfonso Perez-Martin
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  3. José M. Torres-Ruiz
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  4. María V. Cuevas
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  5. Celia M. Rodriguez-Dominguez
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  6. Sheren Elsayed-Farag
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  7. Ana Morales-Sillero
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  8. José M. García
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  9. Virginia Hernandez-Santana
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  10. Antonio Diaz-Espejo
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Correspondence to José E. Fernández.

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Fernández, J.E., Perez-Martin, A., Torres-Ruiz, J.M. et al. A regulated deficit irrigation strategy for hedgerow olive orchards with high plant density. Plant Soil 372, 279–295 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1704-2

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