Home > XI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops > Are orchardists fine-tuning pear irrigation?

Articles

Are orchardists fine-tuning pear irrigation?

Article number

1468_62

Pages

481 – 488

Language

English

Abstract

Efficient water management is vital for sustainable fruit production, particularly in Australia’s Goulburn Valley—a major pear-growing region facing increasing climatic variability.
This study evaluates the alignment between water supply and modelled crop water requirements across 15 commercial pear orchard blocks.
Flow meters were installed to continuously monitor applied irrigation volumes during two growing seasons.
Water inputs were compared to predicted crop evapotranspiration.
Comparisons revealed varying degrees of alignment between actual irrigation and modelled crop needs at seasonal and weekly timesteps. Irrigation system audits of distribution uniformity were conducted, similarly indicating varying degrees of irrigation efficiency.
The benchmarking approach underscores the potential of real-time, continuous flow monitoring and irrigation system audits to guide irrigation decisions and improve on-farm irrigation infrastructure to increase water-use efficiency.

Publication

XI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops

Authors

L. McClymont, N. Valluri, N. OHalloran, I. Goodwin

Keywords

distribution uniformity, crop evapotranspiration, crop water supply, irrigation efficiency, tree transpiration

Full text

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1468.62

Groups involved

Online Articles (70)

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