Due to increased occurrence and intensity of agricultural droughts in humid Mediterranean regions, monitored irrigation is becoming an increasingly inevitable element of agricultural practice. To determine the impact of different irrigation regimes on olive tree (Olea europaea L.) growth and crop yield, and of the olive oil production and biophenol content, a 3-year study was conducted in an olive grove located in a relatively humid region of southwestern Slovenia. The mean olive production from trees under full irrigation (replacement of 100% crop evapotranspiration) was significantly higher than those that were only rain fed or were under deficit irrigation (replacement of 33 and 66% crop evapotranspiration). There were no significant differences in total biophenol contents of the olive oil across these irrigation treatments. These irrigation effects can be explained according to the levels of precipitation throughout the growing season. Despite the positive effects of rainfall on these parameters, the mean olive oil yield of the rain-fed olives was about 30% lower than that for the deficit irrigation treatments.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1539423940
Morphological and physiological traits of olive (Olea europaea L.) contribute to its high drought tolerance. Due to more extreme weather conditions, reduced and irregular precipitation, olives nevertheless frequently experience drought stress. In this paper we present physiological response of ‘Istrska belica’ olive to summer drought in 2015 evaluating the effects of deficit irrigation. Reduced water availability, decrease of water potential, contributed to strong stomatal inhibition of photosynthesis in non-irrigated plants, while this inhibition was much smaller in fully irrigated plants. Results suggest, that a substantial mitigation of water stress and shortening of its duration can be achieved by deficit irrigation.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8644473
Slovenia has good water balance conditions on most of its territory. Due to unfavorable precipitation distribution and frequently appearing extreme weather conditions Slovenia’s susceptibility to drought is increasing. In 2015 and 2016 Slovenian Istria recorded extreme dry conditions, which greatly influenced olive production. In order to determine soil water deficit and minimal irrigation ratio in olive production under extreme dry conditions, irrigation experiment in olive orchard was set. Three deficit irrigation treatments, based on percentage of potential crop reference evapotranspiration (ETp) were evaluated (15% crop evapotranspiration ETc, 33% ETc, 40% ETc). Results show that in vegetative period between 33 and 136 mm of water was added. In addition to soil characteristics and accumulated soil water storage also position and exposition of the orchard influence irrigation demand.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8644729