Wet soil volume and strategy effects on drip-irrigated olive trees (cv. 'Arbequina')

The effect on productive and vegetative behavior and on the quality of oil from Olea europaea L. when applying two distinct irrigation techniques, full irrigation (FI) and regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), was studied. A total of five wet soil volumes (WSVs, 12, 24, 35, 47 and 59%) expressed in terms of the potential root exploration volume were established for each strategy. The experiment was performed on cv. 'Arbequina' in an olive grove in Tarragona (Spain). Results obtained suggest that a 20% reduction in the irrigation dose (RDI) had no significant effect either on olive fruit and oil production or on oil content. Likewise, no significant increase in irrigation water-use efficiency was observed for FI with respect to RDI. A tendency for olive and oil production per hectare to increase with increased WSV percentage was observed, although there were no significant differences between FI and RDI except for 59% WSV in the RDI strategy, producing the best response.