ISHS Acta Horticulturae 449: II International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops
INFLUENCE OF SEVERE WATER STRESS ON GROWTH AND NEXT-YEAR-FLOWERING OF THREE APPLE CULTIVARS GROWN IN CONTAINERS IN SITU: PRELIMINARY RESULTS |
| Authors: | P. Konopacki, W. Treder |
| Keywords: | Young apple trees, rootstocks, porometry, Regulated Deficit Irrigation |
| Abstract:
During last fifteen years, severe summer droughts were observed in Poland six times. Six more times short dry periods caused water stress problems in orchards placed at light soils. Because of short resources of water and low water capability (field capacity) of majority soils used in horticulture, the problem of water stress in orchards becomes very important. To evaluate the influence of water stress on growth and flowering of apple trees, cultivars Jonagold, Gala and Šampion grafted on M9 rootstock and Šampion grafted on M26 rootstock were planted in containers in situ. Trees were stressed while stomatal conductance (SC) decreased to the level of 13.2–33.5% SC of fully irrigated trees. Part of trees was stressed during intensive growth period, and part was stressed during flower differentiation period. One-year results showed different cultivars' growth and flowering responses to stress periods. Based on current results, selection of cultivars seems to be important for orchards planted on low-water-availability soils. | |
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