Stress irrigation in fruit growing in the semi-arid region of Dobrogea, Romania

摘要

The risk of aridity is spreading in Romania,especially in its southeastern region,e.g.in the semi-arid region of Dobrogea where most of the crops have to be irrigated during summer time.The above region is characterized by annual average temperature between 10.0 and 11.5 ?C,precipitation 325 – 465 mm,Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration of 750 to 820 mm,water deficits between-320 and-420 mm,aridity indexes: De Martonne aridity index(Iar-DM)between 0.15 and 0.22(mm/?C),UNESCO 1979 aridity index(Iar,P/ETo)with values between 0.45 and 0.55(mm/mm).However,water resources are limited and there is competition for water use and energy during summer time when irrigation application is required.Consequently,to save water,deficit irrigation techniques should be developed and employed in general in agriculture,and particularly in orchards.This paper deals with experimental data obtained in the most representative fruit trees of this region,i.e.peach and apricot,and proposes irrigation methods and technologies to achieve this goal.