IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v164y2016ip2p253-266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Water use efficiency in peach trees over a four-years experiment on the effects of irrigation and nitrogen application

Author

Listed:
  • Pascual, Miquel
  • Villar, Josep M.
  • Rufat, Josep

Abstract

The optimization of crop water productivity is a key objective in modern agriculture. Deficit irrigation is a widely used strategy when water and energy are scarce and/or expensive. However, in fruit tree crops, the severity and duration of water stress can affect yield and fruit size, thus imposing severe limitations on the effectiveness of production processes, and on fruit quality and water productivity. Here we analyzed water use efficiency (WUE) of peach trees over four years both in agronomic terms, as water productivity of fruits and biomass (WUEWPy,b), and in physiological terms, as intrinsic and instantaneous leaf WUE (WUEint and WUEins respectively). Our results show a positive and additive effect of water and nitrogen application on WUEWP, reflected by yield enhancement. WUEint and WUEins varied through changes in stomatal conductance and transpiration—two parameters that are determined by plant water status and nitrogen application. Our results suggest that the variation in WUEWPy was caused by complex regulation of plant growth and fruiting, related to water status and nitrogen availability, which both drive plant WUE. In order to evaluate WUE at the canopy scale, we studied δ13C and δ18O in wood. These parameters were found to be related to leaf stomatal conductance and transpiration and also to the effects of irrigation and nitrogen; however, no clear relationship was observed with WUEWPy. Plant water status was also dependent on crop load and vegetative growth and was strongly associated with WUEWPy and WUEWPb. Taken together, our results show that full irrigation and rational nitrogen application can improve WUEWPy, both in agronomic and economic terms. When water deficit conditions are foreseeable, deficit irrigation in fruit growth phase III (GSIII) is a more profitable strategy that when applied in phase II (GSII). In this regard, flexible deficit irrigation in GSIII is an affordable and practical tool to include in strategies aiming to improve water and nitrogen use efficiency in fruit crops when water is scarce.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascual, Miquel & Villar, Josep M. & Rufat, Josep, 2016. "Water use efficiency in peach trees over a four-years experiment on the effects of irrigation and nitrogen application," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 164(P2), pages 253-266.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:164:y:2016:i:p2:p:253-266
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2015.10.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377415301402
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.10.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Molden, D., 1997. "Accounting for water use and productivity," IWMI Books, Reports H021374, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Geerts, Sam & Raes, Dirk, 2009. "Deficit irrigation as an on-farm strategy to maximize crop water productivity in dry areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(9), pages 1275-1284, September.
    3. Lovelli, S. & Perniola, M. & Ferrara, A. & Di Tommaso, T., 2007. "Yield response factor to water (Ky) and water use efficiency of Carthamus tinctorius L. and Solanum melongena L," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 73-80, August.
    4. Pérez-Pastor, A. & Ruiz-Sánchez, Mª C. & Domingo, R., 2014. "Effects of timing and intensity of deficit irrigation on vegetative and fruit growth of apricot trees," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 110-118.
    5. Girona, J. & Gelly, M. & Mata, M. & Arbones, A. & Rufat, J. & Marsal, J., 2005. "Peach tree response to single and combined deficit irrigation regimes in deep soils," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 97-108, March.
    6. McVicar, Tim R. & Rui, Li & Walker, Joe & Fitzpatrick, Rob W. & Changming, Liu (ed.), 2002. "Regional Water and Soil Assessment for Managing Sustainable Agriculture in China and Australia," Monographs, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, number 114792.
    7. Ouyang, Z.-P. & Mei, X.-R. & Li, Y.-Z. & Guo, J.-X., 2013. "Measurements of water dissipation and water use efficiency at the canopy level in a peach orchard," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 80-86.
    8. Zou, Xiaoxia & Li, Yu’e & Cremades, Roger & Gao, Qingzhu & Wan, Yunfan & Qin, Xiaobo, 2013. "Cost-effectiveness analysis of water-saving irrigation technologies based on climate change response: A case study of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 9-20.
    9. Jonathan A. Foley & Navin Ramankutty & Kate A. Brauman & Emily S. Cassidy & James S. Gerber & Matt Johnston & Nathaniel D. Mueller & Christine O’Connell & Deepak K. Ray & Paul C. West & Christian Balz, 2011. "Solutions for a cultivated planet," Nature, Nature, vol. 478(7369), pages 337-342, October.
    10. Kijne, Jacob W. & Barker, Randolph & Molden, David J. (ed.), 2003. "Water productivity in agriculture: limits and opportunities for improvement," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 138054.
    11. Kijne, J. W. & Barker, R. & Molden. D., 2003. "Water productivity in agriculture: limits and opportunities for improvement," IWMI Books, Reports H032631, International Water Management Institute.
    12. Molden, David J., 1997. "Accounting for water use and productivity," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 113623.
    13. Pereira, Luis Santos & Oweis, Theib & Zairi, Abdelaziz, 2002. "Irrigation management under water scarcity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 175-206, December.
    14. Cui, Ningbo & Du, Taisheng & Kang, Shaozhong & Li, Fusheng & Hu, Xiaotao & Wang, Mixia & Li, Zhijun, 2009. "Relationship between stable carbon isotope discrimination and water use efficiency under regulated deficit irrigation of pear-jujube tree," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1615-1622, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Temnani, Abdelmalek & Berríos, Pablo & Zapata-García, Susana & Pérez-Pastor, Alejandro, 2023. "Deficit irrigation strategies of flat peach trees under semi-arid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karam, F. & Saliba, R. & Skaf, S. & Breidy, J. & Rouphael, Y. & Balendonck, J., 2011. "Yield and water use of eggplants (Solanum melongena L.) under full and deficit irrigation regimes," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(8), pages 1307-1316, May.
    2. Li, Xiaolin & Tong, Ling & Niu, Jun & Kang, Shaozhong & Du, Taisheng & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng, 2017. "Spatio-temporal distribution of irrigation water productivity and its driving factors for cereal crops in Hexi Corridor, Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 55-63.
    3. Fernández, J.E. & Alcon, F. & Diaz-Espejo, A. & Hernandez-Santana, V. & Cuevas, M.V., 2020. "Water use indicators and economic analysis for on-farm irrigation decision: A case study of a super high density olive tree orchard," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    4. Pereira, Luis S. & Cordery, Ian & Iacovides, Iacovos, 2012. "Improved indicators of water use performance and productivity for sustainable water conservation and saving," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 39-51.
    5. Bluemling, Bettina & Yang, Hong & Pahl-Wostl, Claudia, 2007. "Making water productivity operational--A concept of agricultural water productivity exemplified at a wheat-maize cropping pattern in the North China plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-3), pages 11-23, July.
    6. Mohammad Alauddin & Upali A. Amarasinghe & Bharat R. Sharma, 2014. "Four decades of rice water productivity in Bangladesh: A spatio-temporal analysis of district level panel data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 51-64.
    7. Kang, Shaozhong & Hao, Xinmei & Du, Taisheng & Tong, Ling & Su, Xiaoling & Lu, Hongna & Li, Xiaolin & Huo, Zailin & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng, 2017. "Improving agricultural water productivity to ensure food security in China under changing environment: From research to practice," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 5-17.
    8. Geerts, S. & Raes, D. & Garcia, M., 2010. "Using AquaCrop to derive deficit irrigation schedules," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 213-216, December.
    9. Eric Njuki & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta, 2019. "Examining irrigation productivity in U.S. agriculture using a single-factor approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 125-136, June.
    10. María Blanco & Benjamin Van Doorslaer & Wolfgang Britz & Heinz-Peter Witzke, 2012. "Exploring the feasibility of integrating water issues into the CAPRI model," JRC Research Reports JRC77058, Joint Research Centre.
    11. Liu, Junguo & Williams, Jimmy R. & Zehnder, Alexander J.B. & Yang, Hong, 2007. "GEPIC - modelling wheat yield and crop water productivity with high resolution on a global scale," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 478-493, May.
    12. Ahmadi, Seyed Hamid & Andersen, Mathias N. & Plauborg, Finn & Poulsen, Rolf T. & Jensen, Christian R. & Sepaskhah, Ali Reza & Hansen, Søren, 2010. "Effects of irrigation strategies and soils on field grown potatoes: Yield and water productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1923-1930, November.
    13. Haileslassie, Amare & Peden, Don & Gebreselassie, Solomon & Amede, Tilahun & Descheemaeker, Katrien, 2009. "Livestock water productivity in mixed crop-livestock farming systems of the Blue Nile basin: Assessing variability and prospects for improvement," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 102(1-3), pages 33-40, October.
    14. Mohamed Kharrou & Michel Le Page & Ahmed Chehbouni & Vincent Simonneaux & Salah Er-Raki & Lionel Jarlan & Lahcen Ouzine & Said Khabba & Ghani Chehbouni, 2013. "Assessment of Equity and Adequacy of Water Delivery in Irrigation Systems Using Remote Sensing-Based Indicators in Semi-Arid Region, Morocco," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(13), pages 4697-4714, October.
    15. Amarasinghe, Upali A. & Sharma, Bharat R., 2009. "Water productivity of food grains in India: exploring potential improvements," IWMI Books, Reports H042635, International Water Management Institute.
    16. Peake, A.S. & Carberry, P.S. & Raine, S.R. & Gett, V. & Smith, R.J., 2016. "An alternative approach to whole-farm deficit irrigation analysis: Evaluating the risk-efficiency of wheat irrigation strategies in sub-tropical Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 61-76.
    17. Amarasinghe, Upali A. & Sharma, Bharat R., 2009. "Water productivity of food grains in India: exploring potential improvements," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    18. Rijsberman, Frank R., 2006. "Water scarcity: Fact or fiction?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 5-22, February.
    19. Barros, R. & Isidoro, D. & Aragüés, R., 2011. "Long-term water balances in La Violada Irrigation District (Spain): II. Analysis of irrigation performance," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(10), pages 1569-1576, August.
    20. Hossain, Istiaque & Alam, Md. Mahmudul & Siwar, Chamhuri & Bin Mokhtar, Mazlin, 2019. "Measurement of Water Productivity in Seasonal Floodplain Beel Area," SocArXiv q3ayc, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:164:y:2016:i:p2:p:253-266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.