Effects of deficit irrigation on biomass, yield, water productivity and fruit quality of processing tomato under semi-arid Mediterranean climate conditions

2011 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Patanè ◽  
Simona Tringali ◽  
Orazio Sortino
PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qianmin Jia ◽  
Muhammad Kamran ◽  
Shahzad Ali ◽  
Lefeng Sun ◽  
Peng Zhang ◽  
...  

Background In the arid and semi-arid areas of northern China, overexploitation of fertilizers and extensive irrigation with brackish groundwater have led to soil degradation and large areas of farmland have been abandoned. In order to improve the soil quality of abandoned farmland and make reasonable use of brackish groundwater, we conducted field trials in 2013 and 2014. Methods In our study, we used three fertilization modes (CF, chemical fertilizer; OM, organic manure and chemical fertilizer; NF, no fertilizer) and three deficit irrigation levels (I0: 0 mm; I75: 75 mm; I150: 150 mm). Results The results showed that the activities of soil urease, alkaline phosphatase, invertase, catalase, and dehydrogenase in the OM treatment were significantly improved compared with those in the CF and NF treatments under the three deficit irrigation levels. Compared with NF, the OM treatment significantly increased soil organic carbon (SOC), water-soluble carbon (WSC), total nitrogen, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen (MBC and MBN), and soil respiration rate, and significantly decreased soil C:N and MBC:MBN ratios and the metabolic quotient, thus improving the soil quality of abandoned farmland. Furthermore, the OM treatment increased alfalfa plant height, leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content, and biomass yield. Under the CF and OM fertilization modes, the activities of urease and catalase in I150 were significantly higher than those in I0, whereas irrigating without fertilizer did not significantly increase the activity of these two enzymes. Regardless of fertilization, alkaline phosphatase activity increased with an increase in irrigation amount, whereas invertase activity decreased. Discussion The results showed that deficit irrigation with brackish groundwater under the OM treatment can improve soil quality. Over the two years of the study, maximum SOC, total nitrogen, WSC, MBC, and MBN were observed under the OM-I150 treatment, and the alfalfa biomass yield of this treatment was also significantly higher than that of the OM-I0 treatment. Therefore, the OM-I150 treatment could be used as a suitable measure not only to improve the quality of abandoned farmland soil but also to increase the alfalfa biomass yield in arid and semi-arid areas of northern China.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1405
Author(s):  
Islam F. Hassan ◽  
Maybelle S. Gaballah ◽  
Hanan M. El-Hoseiny ◽  
Mohamed E. El-Sharnouby ◽  
Shamel M. Alam-Eldein

Evolved in South Africa and released to market in 2009, the ‘African Rose’ plum has been introduced and grown under the Egyptian semi-arid conditions since 2010. Within that time, this cultivar has faced significant fruit quality issues, mainly poor color and low total soluble solids (TSS). Several trials using foliarly applied growth regulators have been conducted, but with little conspicuous results on fruit yield and quality. There is very limited information about the relationship between irrigation regime and fruit quality for this cultivar. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to study the effect of deficit irrigation on the quality of the ‘African Rose’ plum during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Five-year-old hedge growing trees were subjected to three deficit irrigation regimes: 100% (control), 80%, and 60% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) after the pit hardening stage until the end of the harvest season (May to June period) were evaluated. Results indicated that deficit irrigation positively enhanced the levels of abscisic acid (ABA), total phenols, and anthocyanins with improved fruit TSS and maturity index, although fruit yield, acidity, size, and firmness were decreased. Deficit irrigation could be suggested as a sustainable novel solution to improve the fruit quality of the ‘African Rose’ plum grown under the semi-arid conditions of Egypt. Although the total yield and some quality characteristics were not improved, the early harvested fruit with enhanced color and taste could be a good start for additional research to solve other quality-related issues under such conditions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Patanè ◽  
Alessandro Saita

A 2-year study was conducted to examine the impact of deficit irrigation on dry biomass, water-use efficiency (WUE), fruit yield and quality in open-field processing tomato at high plant density in a semi-arid environment. Three irrigation treatments (nil; and 100% (full) and 50% (deficit) restoration of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), respectively) and two plant densities (2.5 (P1) and 5.0 (P2) plants m–2) were studied. Dry biomass and fruit yield per plant were lower in P2 than in P1, but at high plant density the crop compensated for biomass and yield decrease at the plant level. Fruit yield in P2 was greater than that in P1, by 36% in 2004 and 33% in 2005. Water limitation improved quality traits compared with full irrigation. Deficit irrigation, especially in P2, enhanced WUE and allowed a water saving of >45% relative to full irrigation, while keeping high levels of fruit quality. The yield response factor, Ky, which correlates relative fruit yield losses to relative ETc reduction, was higher (0.63) than Kss (0.44), which correlates relative total dry biomass losses to relative ETc reduction, revealing a greater crop sensitivity to soil-water deficit in terms of fruit yield than dry biomass. Therefore, Ky may of use in identifying the plant density at which water productivity is maximised or yield losses are minimised.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
María Teresa Ariza ◽  
Luis Miranda ◽  
José Antonio Gómez-Mora ◽  
Juan Jesús Medina ◽  
David Lozano ◽  
...  

Strawberry (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.) production requires the input of large amounts of water provided by irrigation during the entire production cycle. However, water availability is shrinking in many important strawberry cropping areas, such as Huelva (in Europe), compromising the environmental sustainability and economic viability of strawberry production. Besides technical approaches, water-saving strategies are necessary for improving strawberry water productivity such as the use of low water-consumptive cultivars with high productivity or cultivars allowing deficit irrigation (DI) strategies. A two-year field experiment was conducted to compare the physiological and agronomical response of six commercial strawberry cultivars (‘Sabrina’, ‘Fortuna’, ‘Splendor’, ‘Primoris’, ‘Rabida’ and ‘Rociera’) to six different water treatments ranging from 65% to 140% of estimated ‘Sabrina’ evapotranspiration (ETcSab; ~224–510 mm year−1). Cultivars differed substantially in yield and water consumption linked to their biomass partitioning into reproductive/ vegetative organs, determining different yield efficiency (YE). Their water needs (IN) conditioned their response to different water supplies, involving significant yield losses in DI treatments (<20% IN) but not decreasing fruit quality. The highly-consumptive and productive ‘Rabida’ and ‘Rociera’, reduced yields by DI (<40%) but were still profitable; the low-water-consumptive but still productive ‘Fortuna’, ‘Splendor’ and ‘Primoris’ represent significant water-savings (<20%) in strawberry cultivation.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 796
Author(s):  
Mohamed A. Mattar ◽  
Said S. Soliman ◽  
Rashid S. Al-Obeed

A field experiment was conducted on date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera ‘Succary’) cultivated on sandy loam soil from 2017 to 2018. This study investigated the effects of providing water of three different qualities, namely freshwater (FR) and two saline water sources: reclaimed wastewater (RW) and well-water (WE) applied through three irrigation levels representing 50% (I50), 100% (I100), and 150% (I150) of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), on the soil water and salt distribution patterns, yield, water productivity (WP), and fruit quality of the ′Succary′ date palm. The electrical conductivity (ECw) of FR, RW, and WE were 0.18, 2.06, and 3.94 dS m−1, respectively. Results showed that WE applied by the I150 treatment had the highest soil water content, followed by RW used in the I100 irrigation level and FR with I50, whereas the soil salt content was high for WE applied in the I50 level and low for FR applied by the I150 treatment. Deficit irrigation (I50) of date palms with either RW or WE reduced date yields on average 86 kg per tree, whereas the yield increased under over-irrigation (I150) with FR to 123.25 kg per tree. High WP values were observed in the I50 treatments with FR, RW, or WE (on average 1.82, 1.68, and 1.67 kg m−3, respectively), whereas the I150 treatment with each of the three water types showed the lowest WP values. Fruit weight and size were the lowest in the full irrigation (I100) with WE, whereas the I150 treatment with RW showed the highest values. There were no significant differences in either total soluble solids (TSS) or acidity values when the irrigation level decreased from 100% to 50% ETc. Compared with both I50 and I100 treatments, reduced values of both TSS and acidity were observed in the I150 treatment when ECw decreased from 3.94 to 0.18 dS m−1,. Fruit moisture content decreased with the application of saline irrigation water (i.e., RW or WE). Total sugar and non-reducing sugar contents in fruits were found to be decreased in the combination of RW and I150, whereas the 50% ETc irrigation level caused an increment in both parameters. These results suggest that the application of deficit irrigation to date palm trees grown in arid regions, either with FR or without it, can sufficiently maximize WP and improve the quality of fruits but negatively affects yield, especially when saline water is applied. The use of saline water for irrigation may negatively affect plants because of salt accumulation in the soil in the long run.


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