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Sustainable irrigation scheduling and water quality for olives Kostas Chartzoulakis ELGO, Institute for Olive Tree, Subtropical Plants and Grapevines, Agrokipio 731 00, Chania, Crete, Greece Abstract Olive trees can grow without irrigation in areas with annual rainfall of 400-600 mm, but for high yields irrigation during the dry months is essential. The critical growth stages for water for olive are: 1) the bud differentiation 2) the flowering and fruit-set and 3) the pit hardening and rapid fruit development. Water deficits may result in reduced number of inflorescences, production of imperfect flowers, flower drop and reduction of the fruit set percentage. Furthermore, it reduces the annual shoot length, leaf area, leaf number and next years‟ yield. Adequate soil water increase the number of fruits (mostly to trees with small or medium production) and the total oil production per plant, while fruit oil content is reduced from 0 to 10%. Irrigation may reduce polyphenol content and increase saturated fatty acids, while K232, K220 values and organoleptic olive oil characteristics are not affected. The irrigation requirements of olive tree vary according to the cultivar and the growth stage. Olive tree is considered as moderately salt tolerant and recent studies suggest that olives can be irrigated with water containing 3200 mg/l of salt (ECw of 5 dS/m) producing new growth at leaf Na levels of 0.4-0.5% d.w. Salt tolerance in olives appears to be cultivar-dependent and is likely due to control of net salt import to the shoot. High salinity generally reduces olive yield. Salinity increases or does not affect oil content of the fruit, although the extent of this reduction changes with cultivar. Furthermore, NaCl salinity induces changes in fatty acid composition an increases the total phenol content of olive oil. Key words: Olive; irrigation; water requirements; water quality; yield Introduction The olive is xerophytic plant and can grow without irrigation in regions with rainfall 400-700 mm or even 200 mm. For high production and good growth it requires 600-800 mm rainfall per year. Since the distribution of rainfall throughout the year is not uniform and in many areas there are extended drought periods during summer with intense evaporation and transpiration rates from the plant, irrigation is necessary.The critical periods for water of olive are a) the period of bud differentiation and flower formation (January-February), b) the period of flowering and fruit set (in April-May) and c) the period of pit hardening and rapid increase of fruit (August-September). For the 1st period in Mediterranean countries the water needs are covered by the rains of winter and spring. When the rains of winter are limited the irrigation is necessary before the beginning of blossoming (April May), in order to is ensured sufficient soil moisture at flowering and fruit set. The third period (pit hardening and rapid fruit growth) the water requirements are necessarily covered by irrigation. Effects of irrigation on olive The critical growth stages for water for olive in northern hemisphere are the bud differentiation (January- February), the flowering and fruit-set (mid April-May) and the pit hardening and rapid fruit development (August- September). In Mediterranean Basin the adequate soil moisture during bud differentiation is provided by the winter rainfall, while for the other critical stages of olive, for water irrigation in most cases is necessary. The effects of irrigation in the growth and production of olive are reported in the Table 1. Table 1: Effects of irrigation on olive tree growth and production Reduce the length of root system, reduce the percentage of assimilates towards the roots, more Root system shallow root system. Increase the length of annual shoo growth, increase the leaf area and the leaf number, increase Shoot growth the yield of next year. Flowering Increase the production of perfect flowers and the % of fruit set, in some cultivars reduce fruit set alternate bearing. Water stress cause fruit drop and reduce the % of fruit set. Increase the size of the fruit (mainly in trees with low or medium load), increase the number of Fruit fruits per tree, increase the total oil production per tree and may reduce fruit oil content (0- production 10%). Reduce polyphenol content, increase saturated fatty acids while Κ , Κ are not affected. Olive oil 232 270 Rational irrigation do not affect negatively the organoleptic characteristics of olive oil and are quality classified as extra virgin olive oils. 18 The olive tree presents two phases of growth of new vegetation, intense in spring up to the beginning of summertime, when floral induction takes place, and a less dynamic phase in the fall. The sufficient soil moisture at these phases influences favorably the growth and the production of olive. Under rain-fed conditions, root length densities (RLD) are low, e.g. 0.177 cm/cm3 to a depth of 1.5m for roots <0.5mm diameter in an area of 4 by 4 m, centered on trees spaced at 7 by 7m (Fernandez et al. 1991). Irrigation increase the total annual shoot length (active growth stage), leaf area and leaf number (Xiloyiannis et al., 2002). Insufficient soil moisture in spring (March April) causes production of big number of incomplete flowers and decrease the annual growth resulting in reduction of production of current and probably next year. Sufficient soil moisture during annual growth stages (March-June and September-October) tends to decrease alternate bearing in some cultivars. Adequate water supply during flowering increase the number of perfect flowers, while during fruit set increase the percentage of fruit set. Water stress reduces the number of inflorescences, increase the production of imperfect flowers, increase flower drop percentage and reduce fruit set percentage. During this period reasonable amounts of irrigation water should be applied. Under certain conditions (excessive water, sandy soils) irrigation during flowering period may lead to soil nitrogen leaching and fruit drop. Under Mediterranean conditions fruit yield is responsive to water supply and it is of interest to place the yield of rain-fed olive in the perspective of yield achievable when fully supplied with water (Moriana et al., 2003). The response depicted in Fig. 1 summarizes irrigation treatments applied for 4 years to a 30-year-old orchard of cv „Koroneikil‟ at Messara, Crete, Greece (Chartzoulakis et al., 1992). Olive yield display a-curvilinear relationship to orchard evapotranspiration (ETc) with a 2-fold increase over the range 500–950 mm. The irrigation increases the production mainly by increasing the number of fruits per plant and less the size of fruits. In most cases also increase the oil content of the fruit and finally increase the total oil production per tree. On the other hand irrigation delays maturation (gradual color change and high oil content is reached later). Satisfactory irrigation increases the production (final) olive oil per tree until 70 % (M.O. 30-58%) depending on soil type and the situation of plant. The irrigation should stop in October in order to have a period for the maturation of the fruits. 15 ) 18 -1 .s -2 2 12.5 16 2 y = 0.6657x + 6.1903x + 17.111 R = 0.95 2 R = 0.8983 10 14 7.5 12 5 10 2.5 Yield (tons/ha) 8 0 Photosynthesis(ìmol.m 6 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 Predawn leaf water potential (MPa) 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Rain + Irrigation (mm) Figure 1. Relationship of yield (t/ha) to Figure 2. Relationship between maximum Pn and evapotranspiration for cv „Koroneiki‟ predawn leaf water potential during the drought (Chartzoulakis et al., 1992) cycle (Chartzoulakis et al., 2000) Olive oil quality is also affected by irrigation. Phenolic compounds of olive oil appear to be the most influenced by irrigation, with the effect varying with the amount and time of water applied to the trees (including the type of irrigation management), the climatic conditions, and the variety (Patumi et al., 2002; Rico et al., 2006; Stefanoudaki et al., 2009). Moreover, water stress influences the organoleptic properties of olive oil and its oxidative stability. The antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds is well-known, as is the correlation of some phenolic compounds with sensory attributes of olive oil, especially bitterness and pungency. More recent research findings (Servilli et al., 2007; Grab et al., 2014) have reported that the volatile profile of olive oil is also influenced by irrigation of olive trees. Defense mechanisms to drought The olive can withstand long period of drought. The tree is able to slow the onset of stress by control of transpiration and by water uptake from a widely exploring root system. The ultimate drought strategy, however, is 19 tolerance, the ability to sustain large internal water deficit and maintain sufficient metabolic activity for survival. There is, therefore, a wide range of morphological and physiological responses that can contribute to maintaining internal plant water status within physiologically acceptable limits by adjusting demand and/or uptake in response to environment and soil water content. Leaves formed under water stress are more able to control transpiration, being smaller and thicker and having more dense and smaller stomata (Chartzoulakis et al., 1999; Bosabalidis and Kofidis, 2002). The mechanisms that contribute in the drought resistance are a) the osmotic adjustment, i.e. the drastic reduction of osmotic potential (Ψp) in the cells that are under water stress (Chartzoulakis et al., 1999; Dichio et al., 2003) that is owed to the loss of water from the cell and the increase of production of osmotic active substances. More than 65% the change of Ψp is owed to the active production and stocking of osmotic active substances (Xiloyiannis et al., 1999; Chartzoulakis et al., 2000), mainly mannitol and glucose.