Drought management strategies in fruit orchards: A review

Abstract

Drought stress is a major abiotic factor limiting fruit production, quality, and sustainability worldwide. Climate change, erratic rainfall patterns and rising demand for freshwater resources have exacerbated water shortage in a number of fruit-producing areas. Water stress influences physiological activities such as photosynthesis, transpiration, nutrient absorption, and developing fruit, which in turn diminishes fruit production and quality. Hence, to maintain permeability and soil cover, an efficient drought prevention method is needed for sustainable orchard production. A range of strategies such as better irrigation management, soil moisture conservation methods, drought tolerant rootstocks and cultivars, canopy manipulations, mulching, plant growth regulators, microbial inoculants and emerging technologies including precision irrigation and remote sensing have been evaluated. Such strategies contribute to the improvement of water use efficiency, soil water holding capacity and plant drought-stress tolerance. Traditional orchard management practices combined with new technology could provide opportunities to reduce drought effects in fruit crops. This review presents a summary of the physiological consequences of drought in fruit trees and discusses recent developments in agronomic, physiological and technological solutions for drought management in fruit orchards.