Influence of the groundcover management system and drip irrigation on behavior of the 'Golden Spur' apple cultivar grafted on MM106 rootstock
2011
Iancu, M. | Isac, I. | Stanica, F. | Dumitrascu, M.
The low amounts of precipitation and their irregular time and space distribution in Romania determine many years with high soil water deficits affecting fruit yield quantity and quality. In order to quantify the effects of drip irrigation on the behavior of the ‘Golden Spur’ apple cultivar grafted on MM106 rootstock, investigations were performed between 1982 and 2004. The orchard was located on a brown, weakly-medium surface gleyed soil, on 5-6% sloped hillside. Influence of drip irrigation within two groundcover management systems between tree rows (cultivated and mowed sod strips) and on the row (cultivated and mulched) was studied in a 3-factor experiment of 2×2×2 type. The cultivated treatment between tree rows induced a significant increase in the annual trunk cross sectional area (TCSA) by 10%, in the total shoot length/tree (TSL/tree) by 14%, in the number of shoots/tree (NS/tree) by 17%, in the fruit yield (Y) by 17%, in the number of fruits/tree (NF/tree) by 6%, and in the average fruit weight (AFW) by 9%, versus the moved sod treatment. For the whole experiment, the drip irrigation treatment induced a significant increase in the annual TCSA by 16%, in the TSL/tree by 29%, in the NS/tree by 21%, in the Y by 16%, in NF/tree by 10% and in the AFW by 13%. Under the same conditions, mulching on tree row treatment induced a significant increase by 15% in the TSL/tree, by 12% in the NS/tree, by 8% in the Y, by 4% in the NF/tree and by 3% in the AFW, versus the cultivated treatment. On average over the entire period of this study and the whole experiment, an increase of 2.82 kg in fruit yield was obtained for 1 m3 of drip irrigation water. These results entirely justify drip irrigation application in most of the apple orchards in our country.
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