The Ratio between Leave and Fruit Parameters on ‘William’ Pear Orchard Affected by Regulated Deficit Irrigation and Mulching

This field experiment was designed to assess the ratio between leave and fruit parameters on young ‘William’ pear trees after applied regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and mulching. Experiments related to deficit irrigation and particularly regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) or partial rootzone drying depend heavily on weather conditions. Using a water budget methodology, four levels of irrigation, specifically 100% of evapotranspiration (ET) as control and deficits of 80%, 60% and 40%, were applied to 10 trees during the season, 5 of which were mulched with wood chips at a 10 cm layer in first year of experiment while, 20 cm in second year. The experiment was conducted in Kosovo during 2013-2015 on a pear orchard of 10 ha using a nested experimental design. Using two-way ANOVA we found significant changes in a series of leave and fruit parameters. Our results confirmed that a moderate water stress increase yield while, reducing excessive vegetative growth. Regulated deficit irrigation (40 %) has contributed to the reduction on leaf surface, leaf area, LAI. In addition, RDI affected to increase fruit numbers but decreasing fruit size. Compared with first year of experiment during 2015 in treatment 40 % were achieved 5 kg more than 2013 year. Except this, mulching had a positive effect on all parameter values measured compared to non-mulched trees. Our result indicated that regulated deficit irrigation can be successfully applied to pear also, RDI is an ideal water saving technique