Preliminary Results on Evapotranspiration for Sweet Cherry Trees (Prunus avium L.) and Growth Responses to Drip Irrigation in Bistrița Fruit Region

Abstract

The influence of ‘Kordia’ sweet cherry cultivar (Prunus avium L.) grafted on ‘Gisela 5’ and ‘Gisela 3’ rootstocks was evaluated in the environmental conditions of Bistriţa hills in Northern Transylvania Romania, during 2020-2021, in a high-density orchard (2 years old trees were planted at the distance of 4 x 2.0 m) with 1250 trees/ha, trained as spindle bush, equipped with drip irrigation system with application of two treatment irrigation levels (T1-standard irrigation, T2-standard+25%). Preliminary data showed that ‘Kordia’ sweet cherry cultivar grafted on ‘Gisela 5’ rootstock was more vigorous than the one grafted on ‘Gisela 3’, considering the biometrical indicators such as trunk cross sectional area (TCSA) and canopy volume. The water amount from T1 was sufficient to complete the estimated full physiological need of the plants, T2 variant completed with more than 25 % the ETr, thus gave more intense vegetative growth characteristics. Calculations of evapotranspiration (ETr) values for irrigation treatments summed up during March-July (2020-2021) were ranging between 486.5-469 mm. Preliminary research results showed that ‘Kordia’ grafted on ’Gisela 3’ rootstock gave good results to be adapted to high density planting system on condition that irrigation is mandatory to be included in the orchard management system.