Abstract
The olive tree is well adapted to water stress but, at the same time, it shows a remarkable response to irrigation. Full irrigation is rarely the best option, both because olive is usually grown in areas where water for irrigation is scarce and because of its remarkable response to low irrigation supplies. We address in this work new approaches for the management of deficit irrigation in olive orchards, in a context of a rational use of water in agriculture. Special attention is paid to precise irrigation and, more precisely, to irrigation strategies suitable for olive orchards, and to new methods allowing for the continuous and automatic assessment of tree water stress, with a potential for irrigation scheduling. We focus on methods based on measurements related to sap flow, trunk diameter variations, and leaf turgor pressure, since evidence shows the great potential of plant-based methods as compared to those using measurements of soil water status or atmospheric demand. This review includes the potential of those methods for precise irrigation in olive orchards, with particular attention to hedgerow olive orchards with high plant densities. Such potential is achieved after combining plant-based measurements with remote imagery and user-friendly applications for smartphones, tablets, or computers. After considering these new advances in the management of irrigation in olive orchards, we review the effects of irrigation on the production of both fruit and oil, with special attention to those aspects for which the impact of irrigation is still unclear.
Published Version
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