Effects of Various Irrigation Regimes on Soil Water Balance, Yield, and Fruit Quality of Drip-Irrigated Peach Trees

The aim of this research was to determine the amount of irrigation water, irrigation interval, and water consumption that gave the greatest yield, to determine the effect of irrigation on fruit quality characteristics, and to investigate variations in soil moisture in Redhaven peaches irrigated by drip irrigation in the Aegean region of Turkey. The study was performed in 2003 and 2004 on split plots in randomized blocks with three replications. Main treatments were 3 and 6 days between irrigations, and subtreatments comprised four different pan coefficients (Kp1.25, Kp1.00, Kp0.75, and Kp0.50). According to the 2-year averages of peach yields, the effect on yield of the amount of irrigation water was found to be significant (p<0.01), but the effect of the irrigation interval was found not to be significant. Total yield varied between 5,966 and 16,340  kg ha-1, and marketable yield between 5,349 and 14,164  kg ha-1, according to irrigation treatments. A maximum average yield of 14,101  kg ha-1 was obtained...

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