Articles
Effect of alternate fruit bearing on olive tree water consumption
Article number
1409_5
Pages
31 – 36
Language
English
Abstract
Olives are widely known for their strong tendency for alternate bearing (biennial bearing), severely affecting the fruit yield from year to year.
Furthermore, climate change associated with irrigation water shortage is expected to intensify olive alternate-bearing events for the forthcoming years in the Mediterranean zone, causing a significant economic drawback to olive cultivation.
Even though considerable research has been conducted regarding the factors affecting this phenomenon, little is known regarding the effects of alternate bearing in plant ecophysiological and hydrodynamic parameters.
Thus, an experiment was conducted for two consecutive years with biennial bearing in a commercial olive orchard (Olea europea ‘Kalamon’). New sensors were used, which allow the remote monitoring of stem water potential (Ψstem) and plant water losses in real-time, avoiding tedious and time-consuming field data collection.
In particular, (Ψstem) and plant water consumption were continuously measured using psychrometers (PSY1 Stem Psychrometer, ICT International) and sap flow sensors according to the heat ratio method (SFM1 Sap Flow Meter, ICT International), respectively.
Moreover, microclimatic parameters, soil water content, net photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance were also determined.
The results showed that during the ‘ON’ year, olive trees exhibited a significantly higher photosynthetic rate and increased water consumption compared to the ‘OFF’ year at similar soil moisture levels.
This differentiation of water requirements of olive trees between the alternate bearing years suggests that the implementation of different irrigation strategies between ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ years on commercial olive orchards could be essential for increasing irrigation water efficiency while conserving water resources.
Furthermore, climate change associated with irrigation water shortage is expected to intensify olive alternate-bearing events for the forthcoming years in the Mediterranean zone, causing a significant economic drawback to olive cultivation.
Even though considerable research has been conducted regarding the factors affecting this phenomenon, little is known regarding the effects of alternate bearing in plant ecophysiological and hydrodynamic parameters.
Thus, an experiment was conducted for two consecutive years with biennial bearing in a commercial olive orchard (Olea europea ‘Kalamon’). New sensors were used, which allow the remote monitoring of stem water potential (Ψstem) and plant water losses in real-time, avoiding tedious and time-consuming field data collection.
In particular, (Ψstem) and plant water consumption were continuously measured using psychrometers (PSY1 Stem Psychrometer, ICT International) and sap flow sensors according to the heat ratio method (SFM1 Sap Flow Meter, ICT International), respectively.
Moreover, microclimatic parameters, soil water content, net photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance were also determined.
The results showed that during the ‘ON’ year, olive trees exhibited a significantly higher photosynthetic rate and increased water consumption compared to the ‘OFF’ year at similar soil moisture levels.
This differentiation of water requirements of olive trees between the alternate bearing years suggests that the implementation of different irrigation strategies between ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ years on commercial olive orchards could be essential for increasing irrigation water efficiency while conserving water resources.
Authors
E. Kokkotos, A. Zotos, A. Patakas
Keywords
alternate bearing, psychrometry, sap flow, transpiration
Online Articles (64)