ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Effect of Three Irrigation Frequencies
on Physiological-Biological Aspects of Young Olive
Trees (Olea europaea L. cvs ‘Koroneiki’
and ‘Picholine’): Vegetative Growth, Leaf Turgor
Pressure, and Fluorescence
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1
Faculty of Sciences of Gabes, University of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia
2
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), Médenine, Tunisia
3
Laboratoire d’Amélioration de la Productivité de l’Olivier et de la Qualité des Produits,
Institut de l’olivier, Unité Spécialisée de Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
4
Institut Supérieur Agronomique de Chott Mariem, Sousse, Tunisia
Submission date: 2018-01-17
Final revision date: 2018-02-25
Acceptance date: 2018-03-01
Online publication date: 2019-01-23
Publication date: 2019-03-01
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2363-2370
KEYWORDS
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ABSTRACT
In arid and semi-arid areas, farmers are experiencing unprecedented water scarcity, which is likely
to increase by the perspective of global warming. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect
of three irrigation frequencies on vegetative growth, leaf turgor pressure, and photosynthesis of young
olive trees (Olea europaea L. cvs ‘Koroneiki’ and ‘Picholine’). We found that throughout the experiment
and for all irrigation treatments, Picholine cultivar showed a higher rate of vegetative growth.
In addition, the leaf turgor pressure for this cultivar showed fewer signs of stress overall as it recorded
less Pp curve inversions during summer. However, during this season the photochemical efficiency
in Picholine for the frequencies T1 and T2 were lower than Koroneiki by 9.53% and 10.63%,
respectively. Which implied that the non-stomatal limitation of photosynthesis has an impact on
Picholine photosynthetic production, which in turn indicates that this cultivar is more sensitive
to high temperature. Moreover, irrigation frequency has little effect on the Koroneiki cultivar.