REGULATED DEFICIT IRRIGATION FOR MICRO-IRRIGATED CITRUS (CITRUS RETICULATA VAR. BLANCO) TREE - Management, Performance, and Applications of Micro Irrigation Systems - page 246

significant variation in soil water content at 0-40 cm depth indicated the confine-
ment of effective root zone of the plants in top 40 cm soil. The maximum rate of net-
photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and transpiration of leaves was recorded with
FI. However, the plants under RDI 50 exhibited the highest leaf water use efficiency.
Overall, the study concludes that adoption of RDI 50 with drip-irrigation could be the
viable water saving technique in commercial 'Kinnow' mandarin cultivation in north-
ern India and elsewhere having similar agro-climate of the study region.

KEYWORDS

• Citrus

• Deficit irrigation

• Yield

• Fruit quality

• Water productivity

• Production Economics

REFERENCES
1. Amberger, A. Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition in the Tropics and Subtropics , first ed., IFA/ IPI,
Paris, France/ Horgen, Switzerland, 2006.
2. Autkar, V.N.; Kolte, S.O.; Bagade, T.R. Distribution of active rooting zones in Nagpur mandarin
and estimates of water requirement for Vertisoles of Maharashtra. Ann. Plant Physiol . 1988, 2
(2), 219-222.
3. Bhambota, J.R.; Singh, J.; Bindra, A.S. Root characters of some citrus species. Punjab Hort. J.
1977, 17(1 & 2), 30-33.
4. Bhatnagar, P.; Singh, J.; Kaul, M.K. Variation in plant environment variables of Kinnow manda
rin under drip irrigation system. Acta Hortic. 2011, 922, 349-354.
5. Dastane, N.G. Effective rainfall in irrigated agriculture. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 25,
FAO, Rome, Italy, 1978.
6. Davies, F.S.; Albrigo, L.G. Citrus. CAB International, Wallingford, U.K. (1994).
7. Dhillon, B.S. Bio-regulation of developmental process and subsequent handling of Kinnow
mandarin. Acta Hortic . (1986). 179, 251-256.
8. English, M. Deficit irrigation. I: Analytical framework. J. Irrig. Drain. Eng. (ASCE), 1990,
116(1), 399-412.
9. García-Tejero, I.; Jiménez-Bocanegra, J.A.; Martínez, G.; Romero, R.; Durán-Zuazo, V.H.; Mu-
riel-Fernández, J.L. Positive impact of regulated deficit irrigation on yield and fruit quality in
a commercial citrus orchard [Citrus sinesis (L.) Osbeck, cv. Salustiano]. Agric. Water Manage .
2010, 97, 614-622.
10. Gasque, M.; Granero, B.; Turégano Pastor, J.V.; González-Altozano, P. Regulated deficit irriga-
tion effects on yield, fruit quality and vegetative growth of 'Navelina' citrus trees. Spanish J.
Agric. Res. ( 2010 ). 2, 40-51.
11. Gomez, K.A.; A.A Gomez. Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research , John Wiley and
Sons: New York, 1984.
12. Gonzaalez-Altozano, P.; Castel, J.R. Regulated deficit irrigation in 'Clementina de Nules' citrus
trees. I. Yield and fruit quality effects. J. Hortic. Sci. Biotechnol. 1999, 74 (6), 706-713.
13. Hasan, M.; Sirohi, N.P.S. Irrigation and fertigation scheduling for peach and citrus crops. J.
Agric. Eng. , 2006, 43(4), 43-46.