ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Field Water Management
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovation Irrigation Management to Improve Water Use EfficiencyView all 3 articles
Use of smart tensiometers for monitoring different deficit irrigation strategies in two young apple cultivars in Tunisia: Comparison of physiological and pomological behavior
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry (INRGREF), Ariana, Tunisia
- 2Centre Regional des Recherches Agricoles de Sidi Bouzid, Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia
- 3Institut de l'Olivier, Sfax, Tunisia
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Under climatic change and water scarcity conditions, the use of a precision irrigation systems and crop-adapted irrigation strategy that takes into account climatic conditions is a major objective for scientists and farmers. The current study investigated the effects of different irrigation strategies, using low cost smart tensiometers, on the vegetative growth, relative water content, gas exchange and fruit quality of two young apple cultivars (Galaxy and Richared) in dry climate. Four irrigation treatments were considered: a control irrigated (CI, 100% Crop Evapotranspiration (Etc)), Continuous Deficit Irrigation (CDI at 50% ETc) and Partial Root-zone Drying (PRD75 and PRD50 irrigated, respectively, at 75% and 50% ETc). Results showed that shoot growth significantly decreased under CDI50% and PRD50% with a reduction around 31.65% and 38.63% for Galaxy and Richared, respectively. A slight decrease in gas exchange parameters was recorded during the fruit ripening period, especially for Richared under CDI50% and PRD50%, while under PRD75%, the decrease was negligible. Moreover, a significant improvement in fruit quality was reported by an increase in firmness, TSS that reached 19.50 and 17.50 ° Brix in Galaxy and Richared, respectively under PRD75% and a decrease in acidity mainly in Richared. In conclusion, deficit irrigation strategy PRD75% based on smart tensiometers data is the most recommended strategy in the region of the present study, considering its moderate effect on tree physiology and improvement in fruit quality.
Keywords: apple, smart tensiometers, Partial root draying, Gas exchange parameters, fruit quality
Received: 15 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 BAKRI, Guizani, Maatallah, Elloumi and Rezig. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mourad Rezig, rezigue.mourad@ingref.ucar.tn
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