2024-03-28T21:47:01Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/444452018-09-11T08:40:28Zcom_10261_15com_10261_6col_10261_268
Combining sap flow and trunk diameter measurements to assess water needs in mature olive orchards
Fernández Luque, José Enrique
Moreno Lucas, Félix
Martín Palomo, Mª José
Cuevas Sánchez, Mª Victoria
Torres Ruiz, José Manuel
Moriana, Alfonso
Instituto de Investigación y Formación Agraria y Pesquera (España)
Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, CICYT (España)
European Commission
Junta de Andalucía
Deficit irrigation
Maximum trunk diameter
Sap flux
Signal intensity
Tree water consumption
9 pages, 7 figures.
Sap flux (Q) and trunk diameter variation (TDV) are among the most useful plant-based measurements to
detect water stress and to evaluate plant water consumption. The usefulness of both methods decreases,
however, when applied to species that, like olive, have an outstanding tolerance to drought and a remarkable
capacity to take up water from drying soils. Evidence shows that this problem is greater in old, big
trees with heavy fruit load. Our hypothesis is that the analysis of simultaneous measurements of Q and
TDV made in the same trees is more useful for assessing irrigation needs in old olive orchards than the
use of any of these two methods alone. To test our hypothesis, we analysed relations between Q, TDV,
midday stem water potential ( stem), relative extractable water and atmospheric demand in an olive
orchard of 38-year-old ‘Manzanilla’ trees with heavy fruit load. Measurements were made during one
irrigation season (May–October), in fully irrigated trees (FI, 107% of the crop evapotranspiration, ETc,
supplied by irrigation), and in trees under two levels of deficit irrigation (DI60, 61% ETc; DI30, 29% ETc).
Time courses of Q and TDV measured on days of contrasting weather and soil water conditions were
analysed to evaluate the usefulness of both methods to assess the crop water status. We calculated the
daily tree water consumption (Ep) from Q measurements. For both DI treatments we calculated a signal
intensity by dividing daily Ep values of each DI tree by those of the FI tree (SI−Ep ).Wedid the same with the
maximum daily shrinkage (MDS) values (SI−MDS). Neither SI−Ep nor SI−MDS rendered useful information
for assessing the crop water needs. On the contrary, the daily difference for maximum trunk diameter
(MXTD) between each of the DI trees and the FI tree (DMXTD) clearly indicated the onset and severity of
water stress. A similar analysis with the Ep values, from which DEp values were derived, showed the effect
of water stress on the water consumption of the trees. We concluded that the simultaneous use of DMXTD
and DEp values provides more detailed information to assess water needs in mature olive orchards than
the use of Q or TDV records alone.
This work was funded by the IFAPA, Consejería de Innovación,
Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de Andalucía, research project ref.
C03-056, and by the CICYT/FEDER, research projects AGL2004-
0794-CO3-02/AGR and AGL2007-66279-CO3-02.
Peer reviewed
2012-01-18T14:53:25Z
2012-01-18T14:53:25Z
2011-09
artículo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Environmental and Experimental Botany 72 (2): 330–338 (2011)
0098-8472
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/44445
10.1016/j.envexpbot.2011.04.004
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100007273
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011011
en
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2011.04.004
none
Elsevier