F1. Effect of deficit irrigation on vegetative growth and fruit yield parameters of young olive trees in semi-arid Morocco was evaluated. F2. Deficit irrigation (70% ETc) resulted in similar growth and yields as full irrigation, with 30% less water, while traditional flooding used more water inefficiently and led to lower growth and yields. F3. Deficit irrigation is an effective water saving technique for young olive orchards in semi-arid areas, maintaining productivity with less water.

1. Effect of deficit irrigation on vegetative
growth and fruit yield parameters of young
olive trees (Olea europaea L.) in semi arid
area of Morocco
Lhassane SIKAOUI, Abdelaziz BOUIZGAREN, Abderraouf EL ANTARI,
Mohammed KARROU, Vinay NANGIA, Theib Oweis
National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), Marrakesh, Morocco.
International Center of Agricultural Research in Dry Area (ICARDA)
OLIVEBIOTEQ V AMMAN (JORDAN) 3-6 November; 2014

2. Introduction
 In Morocco, almost one million ha are cropped with olive trees.
Olive irrigated area has increased in the last decades and now is
around 35% of olive orchards area, but only 20.000 ha are
conducted under drip irrigation.
 Due to limited water resources, the objective is to replace the
traditional irrigation methods with saving water systems such as
drip irrigation. The aim of the Moroccan Green Plan is to
increase, by 2020, the olive area under drip irrigation to
153,000 ha.
 Moroccan governoment offers important subsidies to farmers to
switch from FI to DI

3. Introduction
 In Marrakech region Olive orchards occupies almost 160 000
Ha ( 18 %)
 High evaporative demand (about 1600 mm/ year), low and
irregular rainfall (200 mm/year), and repeated periods of
droughts.
 Irrigation management strategy has to shift from maximizing the
yield per unit area or land productivity to maximizing the
productivity per unit of water used.
 However, the land productivity should be maintained at the
optimal level.

4. DAMS CAPACITY
(Mm3)
17/08/2014 17/08/2013
RESERVE %
RESERVE
(Mm3) %
BIN EL OUIDANE
1 233,10 686,78 55,7
1092,2 89.1
HASSAN 1er 242,10 60,5 25 135,1 55.8
SIDI DRISS 2,20 1,7 78,5 1,7 79.0
MOULAY
YOUSSEF
148,70 42,4 28,5
106,2 71.4
TIMINOUTINE 3,10 2 65,8 1,9 60.0
YAAKOUB
MANSOUR
70,30 5,5 7.8
21,9 31.1
ABOU EL ABBAS
ESSABTI
24,80 18,9 76.2
20 80.7
LALLA
TAKERKOUST
53,29 2,31 4.3
18 33.7
TOTAL 1 777,59 820,09 46 % 1 397,00 78,59%
Water scarcity in Marrakech region
Situation of dams

5. Objective
 The adoption of the deficit irrigation by farmers to save
irrigation water.
 However, restriction of applied water may affect negatively the
performance of olive orchard.
 This study aims at evaluating the effect of deficit irrigation
technique on vegetative growth and fruit yield parameters of
young olive trees.

6. Material and methods
Saada Pilot Plot (young olive orchard)
 Location: Experimental station of Saada (INRA-CRRA
Marrakech) at 9 km West of Marrakech city.
 Climate: Mediterranean semi-arid with a hot and dry
summer
 The area of olive orchard experimental plot :1.67 ha;
- Drip irrigation plot: 1.15 ha
- Traditional irrigation plot: 0.52 ha
 Plantation date of olive trees: December 2010
 Variety: Menara
 Row spacing : 8m x 8 m (156 plants / ha)
Pilot plot description
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400 Annual rainfall (mm)

7. Material and methods
Saada Pilot Plot (young olive orchard)
Irrigation treatments
 Drip irrigation: 100 % ETc ( Full irrigation)and 70 % ETc
(Deficit irrigation)
 Traditional irrigation: farmer use

8. Material and methods
Experimental design
 Vegetative growth
 Fruit and oil measurements
Parameter measured

9. Material and methods
In the first year after planting, all trees were irrigated equally.
In the second year, irrigation water was applied based on the
estimation of tree evapotranspiration (ETc).
ETc = ET0 x Kc x Kr /Ne

10. Material and methods
Kc = Kt + Ks * (1-fw) + Kg * fw
For 2012, 2013 and 2014: Irrigation scheduling (Lucas et al.;
2009)

11. Results
Vegetative growth parameters
2012 2013
Growth rate
(%)
Watering
regimes Means E.S Means E.S
FDI 215.8 ±17.7a 255.2 ±19.3a 15.4a
DDI 217.9 ±15.5a 248.3 ±18.4a 12.2a
FU 186.7 ±17.7b 209.1 ±17.6b 10.7b
Tree height (cm)

12. 2012 2013
Growth rate
(%)
Watering
regimes Means E.S Means E.S
FDI 18.9 ±3.1a 20.4 ±3.7a 7.4a
DDI 19.9 ±3.3a 21.4 ±2.8a 7.0a
FU 16.5 ±5.3b 17.1 ±5.0b 3.6b
Results
Vegetative growth parameters
Trunk perimeter (cm)

13. Results
Vegetative growth parameters
2012 2013
Growth
rate (%)
Watering
regimes Means E.S Means E.S
FDI 137.2 ±21.1a 178.5 ±26.4a 23.1a
DDI 133.9 ±19.1a 174.2 ±27.9a 23.1a
FU 107.8 ±15.7b 141.8 ±14.4b 23.9a
Trunk diameter (cm)

14. Results
Vegetative growth parameters
2012 2013
Growth rate
(%)
Watering
regimes Means E.S Means E.S
FDI 1.37 ±0.08a 4.3 ±0.07a 68.5 a
DDI 1.33 ±0.08a 4.0 ±0.07a 67.1a
FU 1.07 ±0.09b 2.2 ±0.03b 52.4 b
Canopy volume (m3)

15. Results
Olive fruit parameters
Fruiting rate
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
FDI DDI FU
Fruitingyoungolivetreesrate(%)
Irrigation regimes
a a
b

16. Results
Olive fruit yield
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
FDI DDI FU
Olivefruityield(kg/ha)
Irrigation regimes
a
ab
b
Olive fruit parameters

17. Results
Olive fruit characteristics
Irrigation
regimes
Olive
weight (g)
Fruit Width
(mm)
Fruit length
(mm)
Pit weight
(g)
FDI 3.42 a 16.9 22.9 3.40
DDI 3.38 b 16.3 21.9 3.38
FU 2.36 b 15.4 21.4 3.36
Olive fruit parameters

18. Results
Olive oil parameters
Irrigation regimes
Water content
(%)
Oil content (%)
FDI 18.4 8.3
DDI 18.6 9.1
FU 18.3 9.6

19. New orchard: Oil parameters
Oil parameters
oil content
(%) estimated
Industrial
oil yield (Kg /
Ha)
acidity Total
polyphenols
(ppm)
18 26,28 0,21 165
19 22,23 0,22 161
19,5 12,48 0,21 115

20. Conclusion
 The application of DDI frequently kept the soil relatively wet in the root
zone and hence did not affect significantly most of the agronomical
parameters measured on young olive trees.
 Consequently, DDI did not induce a water stress in comparison with FDI,
and it allowed an early entry in fruit production with a higher rate of fruiting
in comparison with the two other watering regimes.
 The fruit yield under DDI did not differ significantly from that obtained
under FDI and it was 80% higher than that obtained under FU conditions.

21.  DDI permits also 30% of water saving compared to FDI and
more than 70% when compared to FU.
 FU technique, despite the application of high amounts of
irrigation water, the time between the successive irrigations was
very long and hence a lot of water was lost by percolation and
evaporation in this environment characterized by very high
temperatures during summer.
 This induced certainly a high soil moisture reduction and hence a
significant negative effect on many agronomical parameters
studied.
Conclusion

22. The introduction of drip irrigation system under young olive
orchard improved growth performance of young olive trees
compared to traditional irrigated system with flooding.
Conclusion
Performance of young olive trees (new orchard) under
deficit irrigation
Deficit irrigation had any penalty on growth performance of
young olive trees.
•Average water saved 66 % (Full irrigation) and 76
% (deficit irrigation)
•Growth: : + 16 % height , +23 % canopy diameter
+ 21 % trunk perimeter
• Early flower set under drip (60 %) against 40 %
under floody irrigation