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- Author or Editor: D. Mazig x
- Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science x
Abstract
Soil moisture use, shoot growth, fruit size, and yield of apricot (Prunus armeniaca) trees (cv. Hatif de Colomer) were measured under flood water-spreading conditions in the desert. Root distribution was estimated from interpretation of soil moisture data. A highly significant correlation was found between pooled values of past and current seasons' water depletion values and current season's yield. Relative maximum water depletion (on a daily use basis) occurred during fruit maturation. Maximum trunk growth occurred in spring. In some seasons a second, small peak occurred in the autumn.
Shoot growth usually terminated by the beginning of June, and maximum trunk rate growth was usually (except in 1967) attained shortly thereafter.
Trees survived the extremely dry 1968 season (no flood, and only 80 mm of rain), with partial recovery in shoot growth and yield and full recovery in trunk growth during the subsequent year.
Moisture depletion under the trees, per 1000 m2, during the active period of the trees (March to end of September) was only 26 mm in 1968, about 100 mm in 1966, 106 mm in 1967 and 146 mm in 1969. Yields per tree (26 trees per 1000 m2) ranged from 1.4 kg (in 1970) to 27.4 kg (in 1967).
The central cylinder around the tree (2 meters in diam) accounted for the highest relative use of water in comparison with other annuli extending around the tree.