Elsevier

Scientia Horticulturae

Volume 278, 27 February 2021, 109880
Scientia Horticulturae

Effect of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on the production and quality of pear Triunfo de Viena variety under tropical conditions

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2020.109880Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Regulated deficit irrigation improvements water use efficiency in pear trees.

  • Moderate water deficits during filling did not affect quality in pear fruit.

  • Regulated deficit irrigation is recommended for pear crops in tropical conditions.

Abstract

Depletion of water resources, high water costs and increased demand require improvements in the efficient use of water. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on pear fruit quality (Pyrus communis cv Triunfo of Viena), which was compared to control irrigated plants at 100 % crop evapotranspiration (ETc) under tropical conditions. The irrigation treatments consisted of the application of water regimes corresponding to 74 % and 48 % ETc in the T2 treatment and 60 % and 27 % ETc in the T3 treatment in 2014 and 2015, respectively, during the period of rapid fruit growth. The irrigation reduction in T2 and T3 during this period represented a water savings of 26.4 % and 39.6 % in 2014 and 51.7 % and 72.8 % in 2015, respectively. In production, the Number of fruits per tree and distribution of fruits by size during the two years did not have significant differences between the treatments. The RDI did not affect fruit firmness, pigments (Chlorophyll and carotenoids), color index, content of phenols, sugars or acids at harvest, but there were important water savings. The respiration rate was lower in 2015, with RDI 60 %. Therefore, RDI is an efficient irrigation technique recommended for pear production under tropical conditions.

Introduction

The pear is one of the most important global fruit species (Qiu et al., 2018). It ranks third in the world, after apple and peach (Schaia et al., 2013). Pear trees in Colombia has increased in cultivated area because of higher in the consumption of fresh and processed fruits as a result of recognized nutritional and medicinal properties (Miranda et al., 2013).

The pear fruit has great importance for human nutrition because of its important carbohydrate and pectin contents, fibers, soluble sugars, organic acids, and vitamins, among others, which reduce serum cholesterol, avoid the risks of cardiovascular diseases and have a laxative, diuretic, calming and useful effect, preventing loss of calcium (Schaia et al., 2013). The antioxidant capacity of its high content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds is responsible for its anti-inflammatory effect; it prevents numerous chronic diseases with its components, including vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (α-tocopherol) and carotenoids, and has a beneficial effects that offer several possibilities for nutraceuticals (Xia et al., 2011; Nan et al., 2012; Qiu et al., 2018).

Water consumption in agriculture accounts for approximately 87 % of the global total water use and is increasing (UNESCO, 2012). Growers are limited by available water, which is scarce in some areas (De la Rosa et al., 2015). This leads to decreased production and cultivated areas for pear crops. Depletion of water resources, high water costs and increased demand require improvements in water use efficiency (WUE) during crop production and irrigation. Water deficits during fruit development significantly reduce vegetative growth but do not affect production (Ningbo et al., 2008). López et al. (2011) found that a moderate water deficit resulted in greater firmness, acidity and concentration of soluble solids at the fruit ripening stage of the conference pear cultivar than in treatments without deficits. Under tropical conditions, moderate deficit irrigation during filling and ripening in pear fruits may be convenient for internal changes in fruit quality, mainly increasing the content of soluble solids and acids (Díaz et al., 2016) but can affect volatile compounds (Vélez et al., 2019). Moreno-Hernández et al. (2017) found that pear trees showed mechanisms of osmotic adjustment, allowing those experiencing water stress to cope with irrigation restrictions during the rapid growth stage of the fruit without affecting yield.

The problem of water availability is also seen in the high Colombian tropics. Therefore, it is important to evaluate and to implement efficient irrigation practices in pear tree under these conditions (Díaz et al., 2016; Moreno-Hernández et al., 2017). Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is where water is applied in smaller amounts in the vegetative cycle of the crop and at the necessary amount during the rest of the phenological cycle (Vélez et al., 2007; Blanco et al., 2019). The most noticeable effects of water deficit in plants include a reduction in size, lower yield, and modification of fruit quality parameters, such as contents of oils, sugar, proteins, size, color, aroma and firmness (Intrigliolo and Castel, 2004; Rosecrance et al., 2015). However, RDI reduces the amount of water applied, but it is possible to maintain good yield without negatively affecting the quality of the fruit, which, in some cases, is improved (Rosecrance et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2020). In the pear tree with RDI a decrease in the amount of water applied is reported but without an effect on the sap flow (Feng et al., 2017).

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of regulated deficit irrigation RDI during the rapid fruit growth stage on fruit quality fruit in pear variety Triunfo de Viena under high-altitude tropical conditions, in 2014 and 2015.

Section snippets

Plant materials and field conditions

This research was carried out during 2014 and 2015 in the municipality of Sesquile, Cundinamarca (Colombia), located at 5.02′53.65″ N and 73.48′12.78″ W, with an altitude of 2595 m a.s.l, on 0.32 ha, with 172 pear trees of the Triunfo de Viena cultivar (the most cultivated variety in the country), planted in 1998 with a planting distance of 4 × 4 m. The soil is loam-clayey. The climatic information was obtained from a WS-GP1 portable weather (AT Delta-T Devices, USA) located on the plot. During

Reduced irrigation and water use efficiency

In each treatment, 67.6, 49.8 and 40.9 mm were applied during the restriction from January 1 to February 28, 2014, and, from December 23, 2014 to February 22, 2015, 48.3, 23.3 and 13.1 mm were applied to T1, T2 and T3, respectively (data not shown). The amount of water provided during the restriction was higher in 2014 due to weather conditions. The reduction of water in the T2 and T3 treatments during this period represented a savings of 26.4 % and 39.6 % in 2014 and 51.7 % and 72.8 % in 2015,

Conclusions

The reduction of the water regime with RDI during the stage of rapid growth of the pear fruit under high-altitude tropical conditions did not affect the production (number of fruits per tree and distribution of fruits by size) or most the quality characteristics of the harvest, with important water savings and higher WUE during this period. So, RDI is an efficient irrigation technique recommended for pear production Triunfo de Viena variety under tropical conditions, mainly in regions with

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Javier Enrique Vélez-Sánchez: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing - original draft. Helber Enrique Balaguera-López: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. Javier Giovanni Alvarez-Herrera: Methodology, Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

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