EFFECTS OF REGULATED DEFICIT IRRIGATION ON PEAR TREES CULTIVAR ‘CONFERENCE’ UNDER TEMPERATE ZONE CLIMATE

To prevent drought stress, pear trees (Pyrus communis ‘Conference’) in Belgium and the Netherlands, under temperate conditions are equipped with a drip irrigation system.
To determine the optimal soil water potential (ψ_soil) threshold during shoot growth a field experiment was accomplished in a commercial orchard during three successive years (2007 2008-2009). The objective is to see the effect of a different soil moisture content during the shoot growth period.
The orchard was situated on a silt loam soil, and was composed of 11 year old root pruned pear trees cultivar ‘Conference’ on Quince Adams rootstock.
Each year two different irrigation regimes where accomplished and monitored by granular matrix sensors (Watermark) and gravimetric soil moisture determination.
Tree water status was examined by stem water potential (ψ_stem). At harvest yield, fruit quality and fruit size where evaluated.
Fruit size was negatively influenced when ψ_soil declined to -90 kPa.
However a moderate depressed ψ_soil up to -60 kPa had no negative influence on production.

VI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops

P. Janssens, F. Elsen, H. Vandendriessche, T. Deckers, H. Schoofs, W. Verjans

Pyrus communis, root pruning, drip irrigation, Watermark sensors, stem water potential (ψ_stem), soil water tension (ψ_soil)

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.889.33