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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2013, Vol. 12 Issue (3): 509-519    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(13)60252-X
Soil & Fertilization · Irrigation · Agro-Ecology & Environment Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Alternate Furrow Irrigation: A Practical Way to Improve Grape Quality and Water Use Efficiency in Arid Northwest China
 DU Tai-sheng, KANG Shao-zhong, YAN Bo-yuan , ZHANG Jian-hua
1.Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, P.R.China
2.School of Life Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P.R.China
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摘要  Field experiments were conducted for two years to investigate the benefits of alternate furrow irrigation on fruit yield, quality and water use efficiency of grape (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Rizamat) in the arid region of Northwest China. Two irrigation treatments were included, i.e., conventional furrow irrigation (CFI, two root-zones were simultaneously irrigated during the consecutive irrigation) and alternate partial root-zone furrow irrigation (AFI, two root-zones were alternatively irrigated during the consecutive irrigation). Results indicate that AFI maintained similar photosynthetic rate (Pn) but with a reduced transpiration rate when compared to CFI. As a consequence, AFI improved water use efficiency based on evapotranspiration (WUEET, fruit yield over water consumed) and irrigation (WUEI, fruit yield over water irrigated) by 30.0 and 34.5%, respectively in 2005, and by 12.7 and 17.7%, respectively in 2006. AFI also increased the edible percentage of berry by 2.91-4.79% significantly in both years. Vitamin C (Vc) content content of berry was increased by 25.6-37.5%, and tritrated acidity (TA) was reduced by 9.5-18.1% in AFI. This resulted in an increased total soluble solid content (TSS) to TA ratio (TSS/TA) by 11.5-16.7% when compared to CFI in both years. Our results indicate that alternate furrow irrigation is a practical way to improve grape fruit quality and water use efficiency for irrigated crops in arid areas.

Abstract  Field experiments were conducted for two years to investigate the benefits of alternate furrow irrigation on fruit yield, quality and water use efficiency of grape (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Rizamat) in the arid region of Northwest China. Two irrigation treatments were included, i.e., conventional furrow irrigation (CFI, two root-zones were simultaneously irrigated during the consecutive irrigation) and alternate partial root-zone furrow irrigation (AFI, two root-zones were alternatively irrigated during the consecutive irrigation). Results indicate that AFI maintained similar photosynthetic rate (Pn) but with a reduced transpiration rate when compared to CFI. As a consequence, AFI improved water use efficiency based on evapotranspiration (WUEET, fruit yield over water consumed) and irrigation (WUEI, fruit yield over water irrigated) by 30.0 and 34.5%, respectively in 2005, and by 12.7 and 17.7%, respectively in 2006. AFI also increased the edible percentage of berry by 2.91-4.79% significantly in both years. Vitamin C (Vc) content content of berry was increased by 25.6-37.5%, and tritrated acidity (TA) was reduced by 9.5-18.1% in AFI. This resulted in an increased total soluble solid content (TSS) to TA ratio (TSS/TA) by 11.5-16.7% when compared to CFI in both years. Our results indicate that alternate furrow irrigation is a practical way to improve grape fruit quality and water use efficiency for irrigated crops in arid areas.
Keywords:  alternate furrow irrigation       partial root-zone irrigation       fruit yield       water use efficiency       fruit quality       grape(Vitis vinifera L. )  
Received: 29 October 2012   Accepted:
Fund: 

Thanks to the research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51222905, 51079147 and 50939005), the National High-Tech R&D Program of China (863 Program, 2011AA100502), the Program of New Century Excellent Talents in University, Ministry of Education of China (NCET-11-0479) and Hong Kong Research Grants Council, China (HKBU 262307).

Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence DU Tai-sheng, Tel: +86-10-62738548, Fax: +86-10-62737611, E-mail: dutaisheng@cau.edu.cn     E-mail:  dutaisheng@cau.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

DU Tai-sheng, KANG Shao-zhong, YAN Bo-yuan , ZHANG Jian-hua. 2013. Alternate Furrow Irrigation: A Practical Way to Improve Grape Quality and Water Use Efficiency in Arid Northwest China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12(3): 509-519.

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