engleski

Transition to irrigation of an old rain fed olive orchard in Croatia

Olives are the most cultivated fruit trees in the Mediterranean part of Croatia which encompasses coastal area and islands. Both lack water of good quality. In many areas, some saline ground water is available but it has not yet been used for irrigation. Most olive orchards are old, traditional, low density, and rain-fed groves, usually planted in areas unsuitable for other crops. During the last decade there has been an intention to introduce irrigation to old orchards, but water has been applied arbitrarily and without appropriate irrigation systems. Although that approach is simple for growers the effect on yield, quality and water use efficiency are doubtful. The aim of the research was to determine the initial response of fifty year old, rain-fed, olive trees of four autochthonous olive cultivars, to drip-irrigation with tap or saline water (5 dS m-1). At the end of a single season, the EC of soil and Na+ and Cl- concentration had increased only in the narrow zone under drippers, while at the horizontal distance of 1 m there had been almost no change. In vertical direction the highest EC and the concentration of Na+ and Cl- in soil were observed in the 0-45 cm zone, and then they decreased. In the period from July to September, the shoot length and number of nodes increased in all cultivars with application of water, regardless of quality. The yield, fruit and pith weight, were typical for the cultivars and were not affected by irrigation.

Olea europaea L.; drip-irrigation; salinity; soil; ion accumulation; shoot growth

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