Plant-based sensing to monitor water stress: Applicability to commercial orchards

J.E. Fernández

Agricultural Water Management, 2014, vol. 142, issue C, 99-109

Abstract: Despite their potential for water stress monitoring, sap flow (SF), trunk diameter variation (TDV) and leaf turgor pressure (LTP) related measurements are rarely used in commercial orchards. The reasons for this lack of popularity are analysed here, as well as possible solutions for the identified limitations. I worked with data collected from different olive orchards as well as with findings from the literature reported for other fruit tree species. SF sensors are difficult to install but easy to maintain. TDV sensors are easier to install, but require greater maintenance. Both methods are highly demanding in terms of data processing, especially sap flow. The usefulness of SF records for monitoring water stress is curtailed on recovery periods, due to the delayed recovery of stomatal conductance. TDV records, on the other hand, depend on plant water status, but also on plant age, phenological stage and crop load, among other factors. For correct data interpretation, therefore, a deep understanding of the response of the monitored variable to plant and environmental conditions is required. For LTP related measurements we used ZIM probes. They showed to be easy to install and use, and robust enough to withstand field conditions for long irrigation seasons. Severe water stress, however, limited their performance. New approaches are being developed to increase the potential of the tested methods for being used in commercial orchards. These include combining the plant-based methods with remote imagery, deriving more user-friendly water stress indices from the collected records and hiring the services of specialized companies which provide the user with easy-to-interpret summaries of the collected information. With the help of new tools and applications, and the hiring of specialized companies if required, the assessed plant-based methods can be reliable and profitable tools for monitoring water stress and scheduling irrigation in commercial orchards.

Keywords: Sap flow; Trunk diameter variation; Turgor pressure; Deficit irrigation; Irrigation scheduling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037837741400136X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:142:y:2014:i:c:p:99-109

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2014.04.017

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().