IRRIGATION APPLICATION IN ORCHARDS

Objectives

- Efficient use of water resources by promoting proper irrigation methods in representative orchards.

- Knowledge of water and fertilizer distribution in soil depending on irrigation (fertigation) methods used.

- Determining crop evapotranspiration in the specific-for-Dobrogea fruit species in order to decrease water losses by applying irrigation.

- Increasing fruit yield & quality by applying irrigation (or fertigation).

- Use of localized irrigation methods (drip irrigation and microsprinkler irrigation) to alleviate droughts and reduce the desertification risk that increased lately.

 

Results obtained for Dobrogea

-   Crop evapotranspiration ranged between 220 mm (as non-irrigated) to about 470 mm (in drip irrigation plots) for apricot.

- Fruit yield was significantly correlated with crop evapotranspiration; this means a positive response of the trees to water application by irrigation;

- The highest fruit yields in apricot were obtained in microsprinkler irrigation treatments using about 150 mm of water during the growing season; however, drip irrigation treatment produced the best results from the economical viewpoint.

 

Researchers:

Dr. Leinar SEPTAR, e-mail: s_leinar@yahoo.com

 

 

             PLANT PROTECTION

Objectives

1)      Investigations on biology, ecology and control of pests and diseases in peach and apricot

2)      Modernizing technologies to control pest & diseases in peach and apricot

3)      Identifying some genitors showing a high natural resistance to the main pests and diseases

4)      Supplying the fruit tree nursery with virus-free biological material

5)      Implementing environmental protection by reducing fruit pollution and improving consumers’ protection.

 

Results

1)      Finding bio-ecological parameters of the development of some new pathogen agents which have a major importance to fruit trees (Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthomonas campestri; Taphrina deformans, Stigmina carpophila, Monilinia laxa, Anarsia lineatella, Laspeyresia molesta, Myzodes persicae).

2)      Finding the pathogens involved in deteriorating and premature kill of peach and apricot (Cytospora cincta, Stereum purpureum, Fusicoccum amygdali, Stigmina carpophila).

3)      Improving prognosis & scheduling methods to control pests and diseases based on the determination of the biological reserve and the damage economical threshold (PED).

4)      Designing the complex of pest and disease control in fruit trees.

5)      Designing (conceiving) a fast selection test to identify some genitors possessing a high natural resistance to some severe pests & diseases.

6)      Monitoring the virosis at the level of all nursery technological sequences based on the testing of wood biological indicators.

7)      Rebalancing of fruit growing ecological systems by controlling the inter-specific relationships between the host plant, the pathogen populations and their antagonists.

8)      Determining the degree of fruit pollution and the environment based on the introduction of biological and bio-technical means, and methods to control and decrease the number of chemical treatments.

Dr. Cristina MOALE, e-mail: moalecristina@yahoo.com

 

FRUIT GROWING TECHNOLOGIES

Groundcover management systems, canopy driving systems, fertilization systems

 

Objectives

- Finding and carrying out new canopy driving systems for peach, apricot and nectarine in order to increase use of the photosynthetic active radiation and fruit yield.

- Study how to optimize fruit setting and fruit loading by applying treatments with physiologic active substances.

- Investigating influence of groundcover management systems and fertilization systems on fruit yield by using herbicides and other methods.

- Finding the best technologies for newly created cultivars in pilot plots for apricot, peach and nectarine from the view point of fruit yield potential and quality parameters; studying the behavior of these cultivars in region Dobrogea.

 

Results obtained

- Optimum planting distances for the above species to achieve high fruit yields under proper economical conditions.

- Optimum fertilization rates to be applied annually and use of proper soil management systems for these species mentioned.

- Efficient herbicide application technologies combining pre-emergent with post-emergent products to control weeds in the growing season.

- Technologies on chemical thinning of fruit bearing for peach and nectarine.

- Technologies sequences on how to apply green pruning and use of small volume canopy systems in apricot, peach and nectarine.

                               

Researchers:

Dr. LAMUREANU  Gheorghe, e-mail: theangell_l@yahoo.com