The effects of drought on the water use, fruit development and oil yield from young olive trees

Marc Greven, Sue Neal, Steve Green, Bartolomeo Dichio and Brent Clothier

Agricultural Water Management, 2009, vol. 96, issue 11, 1525-1531

Abstract: In Marlborough, New Zealand, olives are becoming an important crop alongside grapes. However, despite olives being drought resistant, they are generally planted on the poorer free-draining soils. Also, with the strong increase in cropping area, the demand for irrigation water has increased dramatically. In this research, we investigate the impact of short-term water stress on plant physiological processes, crop yield and oil quality in Marlborough, New Zealand. For that purpose, during the dry summer of 2000-2001, two trees were kept without irrigation for 64 days while two neighbouring trees were irrigated following standard practice. The trees were measured for transpiration (E), leaf and stem water potential ([Psi]L and [Psi]S), every other day, from dawn to dusk for three weeks from just before irrigation was started up again. All four trees were wired up for measuring stem sap flow (T) which was recorded hourly and a basic meteorological station provided weather data. Fruit and shoot development was measured weekly. It was found that under the short period of dry conditions with soil moisture (() dropping to

Keywords: Olive; Drought; Leaf; water; potential; Stem; sap; flow; Stomatal; conductance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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