The influence of drip irrigation amount on water consumption of fragrant pear

Abstract

【Objective】 Fragrant pear is a cash crop in Northwestern China and its growth relies on irrigation. This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the effect of drip irrigation amount on water consumption of the pear as well as water distribution in soil. 【Method】 The experiment was conducted from 2021 to 2023 in a pear orchard in Korla in Xinjiang. It consisted of four irrigation amount treatments: 3 750 (W0), 5 250 (W1), 6 750 (W2) and 8 250 m3/hm2 (W3). The control is surface flooding irrigation with an irrigation amount of 10 000 m3/hm2 (CK). For each treatment, we measured the change in soil water content and water consumption of the pears. 【Result】 Increasing irrigation amount led to an increase in soil water content. With the increase in irrigation amount, the variation coefficient of soil water content and fruit yield of the pear both increased first followed by a decline. The W2 treatment gave the highest fruit yield (7 285.91 kg/hm2), 1.4% to 20.89% higher than that in other treatments. The water use efficiency and irrigation water use coefficient both decreased as the irrigation amount increased. Throughout the entire growth period, water consumption of the pear varied from 444.83 to 695.27 mm. Water consumption during the rapid fruit expansion period of the pear, especially in the early stage, was the highest, varying from 3.77 to 6.16 mm/d. From 2021 to 2023, water consumption of the pear in W3 was 10.11% to 36.02% more than that in other treatments. In 2023, the water consumption of the pear in W2 was 3.74% to 7.15% higher than that in 2021 and 2022, in which the water consumption during rapid fruit expansion period of the pear varied from 4.71 to 5.48 mm/d. The crop coefficient of the pear during its entire growing period varied from 0.48 to 0.84. During the budburst and flowering stages, and the early stage in the rapid fruit expansion period, the crop coefficient of the pear was lower than that estimated from the FAO standard, while during the entire rapid fruit expansion and harvesting stage, the crop coefficient of the pear varied from 0.7 to 1.07 and 0.72 to 1.21, respectively. 【Conclusion】 The optimal drip irrigation amount for fragrant pear in Korla region should be not less than 6 750 m3/hm2.

Keywords

• drip irrigation
• fragrant pear
• labor-saving mode
• water consumption law
• water use efficiency