Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist James Ayars at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Centre, has found a way to reduce the amount of water given post-harvest to early-season peaches so that the reduction has a minimal effect on yield and fruit quality. A
RS is USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency, and the research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.
The valley has about 25,000 acres of peach orchards that must be irrigated throughout the summer. Early season peaches are normally harvested in May, but require most of their water from June through September, a time when temperatures and demands for water are at their highest.
Snow packs in the Sierra Nevada have traditionally been a sufficient water source for growers, but earlier snowmelts have made water more precious with each summer. Wells that supply the valley have had to reach deeper to meet increasing demands.
Ayars and ARS scientist Dong Wang, also based at Parlier, irrigated a four acre plot of early-season peach trees from March to the May harvest. From June to September, they gave the trees either 25% of the amount of water they’d normally receive, 50% of the normal amount, or 100%.
The results showed that reducing post-harvest irrigation levels to 25% of the normal amount had negative effects on yield and fruit quality, but that giving 50 % less water than normal had minimal effects on the following year’s quality and yield.
The subsurface drip irrigation systems tended to have the lowest yields within a given year, but differences were generally not statistically significant. The researchers also found that trees needed less pruning and maintenance because the deficit irrigation slowed plant growth.
Source: USDA
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