Fruit yield and quality of olives under different deficit irrigation strategies

The Mediterranean Basin is a climate change hot spot where substantial warming and lower water availability is predicted. This scenario poses considerable challenges to olive groves, a crop with great ecological and socioeconomic importance. ln order to overcome these constrains, new cropping practices focusing on water use efficiency must be investigated. ln this work we aimed to investigate water management practices that can ensure the adequate compromise between yield and the quality of olive products. The study was conducted in Quinta do Prado, Lodões, Vila Flor (41 °20'13.3"N, 7°05'54.2"W) and a full irrigation (FI) control, applied daily, equivalent to 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), was compared with three deficit irrigation strategies (DIS): regulated deficit irrigation (RDI; 80% of ETc in phases I and III of fruit growth and 10% of ETc in pit hardening stage, phase TI; 56 % of the ETc in all season), sustained deficit irrigation (SDI; 27.5% of ETc), and sustained deficit irrigation adopted by the farmer (SDIAF; 21.2% of ETc, applied weekly). The impact of treatments on fruit yield and quality during 2016 were evaluated. Using FI treatment as reference, no significant influence of RDI and SDI treatments were felt in crop yield, while the SDlAF treatment reduced it significantly (P

Fruit yield and quality of olives under different deficit irrigation strategies Artigo de Conferência