EFFECT OF SALINE IRRIGATION ON FRUIT GROWTH OF PEACH AND NECTARINE

Stone fruit are rated sensitive to salinity with the development of threshold salinity levels generally relying on short term vegetative response experiments.
There has been little research into the influence of saline irrigation on fruit growth and productivity and the sensitivity at different stages of fruit development has not been determined.
To establish the effect of irrigation salinity during rapid fruit growth (Stage III) on fruit size, peach trees were irrigated with saline water to 1.15 dS/m.
Soil ECe, tree water relations, leaf, fruit and trunk mineral composition, vegetative growth and yield were measured.
Diurnal changes in peach diameter were measured with linear variable displacement transducers.
A field experiment was also established to determine the influence of saline irrigation during Stages II and III of fruit growth on the productivity of fresh market nectarines.
Fruit growth and productivity, soil and tissue salinity were analysed.
Results from both these studies are presented and the relevance of osmotic and toxic effects in this response discussed.

II International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops

A.M. Boland, S. Martin, P. Jerie

fruit growth, osmotic effects, toxicity, Stage III, Prunus persica

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.449.85