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levels during deficit irrigation and postdrought recovery in perennial ryegrass. Perennial ryegrass is a cool-season species widely used for golf courses, commercial landscapes, and pastures in temperate climates. Drought stress is a major factor limiting
have shown that deficit irrigation could not only improve creeping bentgrass tolerance to stress but also significantly reduce cost of irrigation water ( Ervin et al., 2009 ; Huang et al., 2014 ). However, little study has been reported on effect of
for the rise in total antioxidant content ( Andre et al., 2009 ). Research by Jovanovic et al. (2010) in potato and Peña et al. (2013) in pomegranate also found increased antioxidant content using deficit irrigation as compared with fully irrigated
Proper irrigation management is critical to growing quality turfgrass with limited water in arid and semiarid regions. Deficit irrigation, defined as applying water in amounts less than the reference evapotranspiration rate, is an irrigation
Regulated deficit irrigation is used to manage soil water content to impose predetermined periods of plant water stress or soil water deficit that may elicit a desirable response in the plants (see reviews by Behboudian and Singh, 2001 ; Chaves et
of this investigation was to apply ISSR-PCR to determine the genetic diversity of available accessions of Narcissus species in Iran, and identification of tolerant genotypes for deficit irrigation by evaluation of their morpho
Five-year old `Hosui' Asian pear (Pyrus serotina Rehder) trees growing in drainage lysimeters and trained onto a Tatura trellis were subjected to three different irrigation regimes. Weekly water use (WU) was calculated using the mass-balance approach. Soil-water content of control lysimeters was kept at pot capacity, while deficit irrigation was applied before [regulated deficit irrigation (RDI)] and during the period of rapid fruit growth [late deficit irrigation (LDI)]. Soil-water content was maintained at ≈50% and 75% of pot capacity for RDI and LDI, respectively. Deficit irrigation reduced mean WU during RDI and LDI by 20%. The reduced WU was caused by lower stomatal conductance (gs) on deficit-irrigated trees. RDI trees had more-negative diurnal leaf water potentials (ψl). The ψl, gs, and WU remained lower for 2 weeks after RDI was discontinued. RDI reduced shoot extension and summer pruning weights, whereas winter pruning weights were not different between treatments. Except for the final week of RDI, fruit growth was not reduced, and fruit from RDI grew faster than the control during the first week after RDI. In contrast, fruit volume measurements showed that fruit growth was clearly inhibited by LDI. Final fruit size and yield, however, were not different between treatments. Return bloom was reduced by RDI but was not affected by LDI.
Three-year-old `Braeburn' apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) on MM106 rootstock were studied in a glasshouse to assess the effects of deficit irrigation on fruit growth, water relations, composition, and the vegetative growth of the trees. Trees were assigned to one of three treatments. The control (C) was fully watered. The first deficit treatment (D1) was deficit-irrigated from 55 days after full bloom (DAFB) until final harvest at 183 DAFB. The second deficit treatment (D2) was deficit-irrigated from 105 to 183 DAFB. Compared to C, the D1 and D2 trees developed a lower photosynthetic rate, leaf water potential (Ψl), and stomatal conductance (gs) during the stress period. Trunk-circumference growth was reduced in both D1 and D2 trees, but leaf area and shoot length were reduced in D1 only. Total soluble solids increased in both D1 and D2 fruit. Fructose, sorbitol, and total soluble sugar concentrations were higher in D1 fruit than in C and D2. Titratable acidity and K+ levels were higher in D1 fruit than C and D2. For D1, lowering of fruit water potential (Ψw) was accompanied by a decrease in osmotic potential (Ψs), and therefore turgor potential (Ψp) was maintained throughout the sampling period. Regardless of fruit turgor maintenance, the weight of D1 fruit was reduced from 135 DAFB. Weight, sugar concentration, and water relations of D2 fruit were not affected by deficit irrigation. This indicates that fruit water relations and sugar concentration are modified if water deficit is imposed from early in the season. However, if water deficit is imposed later in the season it has less impact on the composition and water relations of the fruit.
Abstract
Fruit yield was increased, summer pruning decreased, and water saved when regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and withholding irrigation (WI) were used over 5 years to manage mature ‘Bartlett’ pear ( Pyrus communis L.) trees planted at three levels of within-row spacing (0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 m) and trained to a Tatura trellis. Three levels of irrigation, 23%, 46%, and 92% replacement of evaporation from the planting square (Eps), were compared during the RDI period. Weight of summer prunings was positively and linearly related to level of irrigation in each year, including a relatively wet year. When compared between years, the degree of this response on the dried treatment was positively and significantly related to net evaporation (evaporation – rainfall) recorded during the period of rapid shoot growth. Fruit number also tended to be greater on the 23% and 46% Eps treatments in all years. Cumulative yield over 10 years of cropping did not differ between tree spacing, although fruit size was larger at the 1-m spacing. High yields were obtained at all levels of tree spacing. Yield and tree growth responded most to RDI for the 0.5-m-spaced trees.
The influence of deficit irrigation on predawn leaf water potential (Ψpd) and leaf gas-exchange parameters was analyzed in almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb] and compared to hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.). Both species were planted in adjacent plots in which four irrigation treatments were applied: T-100%, T-130%, and T-70%, which were irrigated at full crop evapotranspiration (ETc), 1.3 × ETc, and 0.7 × ETc, respectively, and a regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) treatment, which consisted of full irrigation for the full season, except from middle June to late August when 0.2 × ETc was applied. Under nonstressful conditions, hazelnut had a lower net CO2 assimilation rate (A) (12.2 μmol·m-2·s-1) than almond (15.5 μmol·m-2·s-1). Reductions in net CO2 assimilation rate (A) induced by decreases in Ψpd were higher in hazelnut than in almond. Gas-exchange activity from early morning to midday decreased in hazelnut for all irrigation treatments, but in almond increased in the well-watered treatments and decreased slightly or remained constant in the RDI. Hazelnut had a higher A sensitivity to variations in stomatal conductance (gs) than almond, especially at low gs values. The Ψpd values in almond and hazelnut of the T-100% and T-130% treatments were affected by decreasing values in midsummer, but in hazelnut Ψpd was probably also affected by sink kernel filling. These facts indicate that hazelnut RDI management could be more problematic than in almond.