Plant Soil Environ., 2023, 69(7):303-313 | DOI: 10.17221/160/2023-PSE

Stem water potential, stomatal conductance and yield in irrigated apple treesOriginal Paper

Lenka Plavcová ORCID...1, Radek Jupa1,3, Martin Mészáros2, Klára Scháňková2, Zuzana Kovalíková1, Jan Náměstek2
1 Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
2 Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology, Holovousy, Hořice, Czech Republic
3 Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Plant-based indicators of water status, such as midday stem water potential (Ψstem) and leaf stomatal conductance (gs), are used to optimise irrigation scheduling in horticultural crops because they integrate the effect of soil and climatic conditions and the internal physiological constraints. The use of these indicators relies on experimentally acquired thresholds that relate the value of the indicator to negative effects on yield. In five irrigation treatments, we monitored yield, fruit size and the courses of Ψstem and gs throughout four consecutive growing seasons. We found that Ψstem was more sensitive to irrigation treatment than gs. Both indicators increased with available soil water content (ASWC) and decreased with evaporative demands of the atmosphere (ETC). On a seasonal basis, crop load had a stronger impact on gs than Ψstem. In summary, our study explored the effect of environmental conditions and crop load on plant-based indicators of tree water status and can be useful for establishing thresholds for irrigation scheduling in apple tree orchards.

Keywords: drought; water dynamic; fruit trees; gas exchange; deficit; abiotic stress

Received: April 17, 2023; Revised: June 1, 2023; Accepted: June 5, 2023; Prepublished online: July 10, 2023; Published: July 25, 2023  Show citation

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Plavcová L, Jupa R, Mészáros M, Scháňková K, Kovalíková Z, Náměstek J. Stem water potential, stomatal conductance and yield in irrigated apple trees. Plant Soil Environ. 2023;69(7):303-313. doi: 10.17221/160/2023-PSE.
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