Water productivity in Santa Rosa plum orchard under different water regime and nitrogenous fertilization

Abstract

With growing water shortages, agriculture faces the challenge of increasing water productivity (WP). In this work, WP of Santa Rosa Plum is evaluated under different irrigation regime practices. WP in Santa Rosa Plum, was estimated over 2 years for two nitrogenous fertilization (N1 -75% additional N and N2 -50% additional N) and three deficit irrigation strategies (I1 -20% SMD of field capacity, I2 -40% SMD of field capacity, I3 -60% SMD of field capacity). In terms of yield/total water supply, the (I1 -20% SMD of field capacity subjected to N1 treatment, gave the highest WP (3.64 kg m-3), compared to the I2 treatment (3.30 kg m-3) and N2 treatment (3.41 kgm-3). I3 irrigation reduced slightly the performance and yield of Santa Rosa Plum (3.28 kg m-3). Performances of yield were affected by irrigation and nitrogenous fertilization. Interaction between (I1 -20% SMD of field capacity) and (N1 -75% additional N induced better WP. Experimental work targeted WP under contrasted environments. In northern part of India (125-130 cm annual rainfall), average yield of plum, planted at 6×6 m spacing varied between 12.24 to 16.04 respectively when irrigation was applied under I1, I2 and I3 treatment respectively. The highest WP values were obtained from I1N1, interaction 4.12 kg m-3 respectively and the lowest (3.28 kg m-3 and 3.41 kg m-3) in I3 and N2 treatment. However different interactions with irrigation regime and nitrogenous fertilization are discussed on this paper.