The need to make food products more competitive is driving the incorporation of new cropping techniques.
One of these techniques is controlled deficit irrigation.
With controlled deficit irrigation strategies what we're looking for is to supply less water
at those moments when the crop is less susceptible to a shortage of water,
always trying to maintain the yield and the quality of the product.
To apply these strategies successfully, it's fundamental that we know when those moments are,
and to what extent it can be in a deficit situation.
A technique applied to fruit trees in the Euroace region thanks to this project under the Riteca umbrella.
What we're looking for is to find those moments at which the crop is less susceptible to a situation of stress
and how much water stress it can withstand.
To do this, we've set up irrigation treatments with different water doses,
and we've evaluated its response both in the yield of the crop,
and throughout the growing cycle, with measurements of water stress in the plant.
What we aim to achieve with this project is fundamentally to save water through deficit irrigation strategies,
to adjust irrigation schemes to the real needs of the crops and also to optimize some cropping practices such as pruning.
On the other hand, there will be a series of indirect benefits such as lower energy use, lower costs for farmers,
and in addition, it's an improvement in practice which benefits the environment.
The practical application of these results is a direct application.
In the case of the Japanese plum, we'll have trees of a more appropriate size for the work that has to be done with them,
and in addition with an internal part more exposed to the sun, improving the quality of the fruit.
Communication of all this practical application and knowledge has been carried out through workshops,
field visits and information leaflets.