Kiwifruit: Water relations and deficit irrigation

The economic returns from kiwifruit vines directly depend on its fruit size and quality, which in turn affected by water availability. In kiwifruit, the potential of cultivar (s) to adapt under water scarcity conditions is not much known and therefore this work was conducted to screen out the water deficit tolerant cultivars. This work was undertaken in the Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, HP,India during the years 2011 and 2012. The whole research work was divided into two experiments. The systematic studies on different anatomical and physiological parameters such as stomatal size and density, xylem vessel development, leaf water potential, stomatal conductance, transpiration and chlorophyll stability index provide useful information about water relation and water stress resistance in kiwifruit. The use of mulches along with deficit irrigation level mitigated the water stress induced responses and reduced the high irrigation requirement of kiwifruit over the growing period from sixteen to eight.This whole book will be helpful to kiwifruit growers who are interested in cultivating kiwifruit in water scarcity conditions.