Abstract

PARRA QUEZADA, Rafael Ángel; ORTIZ FRANCO, Pedro; AMADO ALVAREZ, Jesús Pilar  and  CHAVEZ SANCHEZ, Noe. Productivity and Growth of Apple Under Controlled Deficit Irrigation. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2009, vol.27, n.4, pp.337-343. ISSN 2395-8030.

All of northern Mexico is dry. In general, water is increasingly scarcer and of lower quality. Apples in the state of Chihuahua are grown (approximately 30 000 ha) under irrigation, mostly with underground water extracted with pumping systems. Of the existing aquifers, 90% are over-exploited. The objective of the present work was to determine the effect of controlled deficit irrigation and subsurface irrigation on water productivity, vegetative growth, and fruit production and quality. The study was carried out during the 2003 growing cycle in a 20 year old apple orchard of the cultivar Top Red Delicious. Four treatments and eight replications were established; variables were analyzed using a completely randomized design, considering one tree as the experimental unit. The results obtained indicated that by irrigating once to field capacity during budding, followed by 49 days without water, and then resuming normal irrigation until harvest, there was a water savings of 60%. Furthermore, fruit yield increased up to 22%, and water use productivity increased up to three times (7.68 vs. 2.39 kg m^-3) relative to the technology utilized by the grower (micro sprinkler irrigation, control), without affecting fruit quality. The harvested apples were, rather, heavier and firmer.

Keywords : irrigation systems; phonological stages; water productivity; evaporation.

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