Articles
EFFECT OF IRRIGATION ON FRUIT SIZE AND QUALITY OF ‘ROCHA’ PEAR
Article number
800_110
Pages
809 – 814
Language
English
Abstract
The effect of irrigation on productivity and quality of Rocha pears has been investigated in a drip-irrigated orchard located at Runa (Torres Vedras, Portugal) during six years.
The experimental design consisted of four groups of 10 trees to which five irrigation levels were applied.
In the analyses of the experimental data, the water supply to each tree was taken as the sum of the irrigation amount plus rainfall accumulated since full bloom.
Total production per tree increased with water supply to a certain limit, different for each of the six years of observations.
The number of fruits per tree varied between years from approximately 200 to 500. Taking into consideration the number of fruits per tree, in all treatments there was observed a regular increase of productivity (as weight of fruit per tree) with water supply, reaching a maximum close to 10 litres per fruit.
The distribution of fruits by size classes has been modelled as a function of water supply and the average temperature during the growing season (from full bloom to harvest). It is concluded that the main factor of pear productivity is the number of fruits left per tree (resulting from the number of buds left after pruning, the intensity of thinning, and fruitlet drop due to environmental causes), while fruit size depends both on irrigation and temperature.
Sugar content decreased proportionately to the water supply per tree and per fruit in all the six years of observations, but no relation could be established between firmness and water supply or number of fruits per tree.
The experimental design consisted of four groups of 10 trees to which five irrigation levels were applied.
In the analyses of the experimental data, the water supply to each tree was taken as the sum of the irrigation amount plus rainfall accumulated since full bloom.
Total production per tree increased with water supply to a certain limit, different for each of the six years of observations.
The number of fruits per tree varied between years from approximately 200 to 500. Taking into consideration the number of fruits per tree, in all treatments there was observed a regular increase of productivity (as weight of fruit per tree) with water supply, reaching a maximum close to 10 litres per fruit.
The distribution of fruits by size classes has been modelled as a function of water supply and the average temperature during the growing season (from full bloom to harvest). It is concluded that the main factor of pear productivity is the number of fruits left per tree (resulting from the number of buds left after pruning, the intensity of thinning, and fruitlet drop due to environmental causes), while fruit size depends both on irrigation and temperature.
Sugar content decreased proportionately to the water supply per tree and per fruit in all the six years of observations, but no relation could be established between firmness and water supply or number of fruits per tree.
Publication
Authors
J. Azevedo, R. Luz, H. Pereira, J.M.S. Martins
Keywords
¿Rocha¿ pear, irrigation, fruit load, fruit quality
Online Articles (151)