Productivity of Peach Trees : Tree Growth and Water Stress in Relation to Fruit Growth and Assimilate Demand

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Abstract
The growth of the limbs of peach trees measured by dendrometers was inhibited during periods when the rate of d. wt accumulation by the fruit was increasing. The diurnal shrinkage of these limbs measured by the same dendrometers was greatest during periods when limb growth was inhibited. The increase in diurnal shrinkage of the limbs coinciding with inhibited limb growth, and increased assimilate demand, was greater than that caused by environmental factors at maximum soil water-potential and greater than that caused by five days soil drying after irrigation. Leaf water potential and diurnal limb shrinkage were measured continuously during two periods of maximum soil water-potential and leaf area when the rate of d. wt increase of the fruit was decreasing (DW II) and then later when the rate of d. wt increase of the fruit was increasing (DW III). The leaf water potential was lower and limb shrinkage greater during DW 111 than DW II. The hydraulic gradient also increased from 1 bar m−1 in DW II to 2 bar m−1 in DW III Environmental conditions during both periods were very similar and the data suggest total water use by the tree increased substantially during periods of high assimilate demand by the fruit.

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