Modelling soil water redistribution in irrigated Japanese plum (prunus salicina) orchards in the Western Cape (South Africa)

Abstract

Japanese plum (Prunus salicina) farming in the Western Cape (South Africa) is an important industry for the export market and job creation and is a large water user; however, adequate information on water requirements of this crop is not available in this semi-arid area. The objective of this study was to determine seasonal plum water requirements for the purpose of water use planning and allocation. The study made use of experimental data from four fully bearing, high-yielding plum orchards (cv African Delight and Fortune) in two major plum production regions (Robertson and Wellington). Crop water requirements and the soil water balance were modelled with the physically based HYDRUS-2D model. Seasonal crop water requirements were estimated to be between 524 mm (cv Fortune inWellington) and 864 mm (cv African Delight in Robertson).

Description

Keywords

Crop production, Climate change, Geoscience, South Africa, Agriculture, Farming

Citation

Jovanovic, N. et al. (2023). Modelling soil water redistribution in irrigated Japanese plum (prunus salicina) orchards in the Western Cape (South Africa). Horticulturae, 9(3), 395. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9030395