Interaction between water and nitrogen management in peaches for processing.

three-year field experiment (2006-2008) on clingstone peach cv. Andross was conducted in a commercial orchard under mechanical harvesting for the processing industry. Three irrigation strategies were evaluated: full irrigation throughout the growing season; restricted irrigation during stage-II (~70% restriction) and restricted irrigation during stage-III (~30% restriction), combined with three nitrogen fertilization treatments: 0, 60 and 120 kg N/ha. Trees were fertigated on a daily basis. Daily patterns of soil moisture were monitored with capacitance probes. Irrigation restriction strategies and nitrogen dose affected yield and fruit quality at commercial harvest. As well as the individual effects of applying irrigation strategies and N doses, interactions between the two factors were analyzed. In the second year, there was a nitrogen × irrigation interaction for fruit yield. A positive yield effect for N applied to fully irrigated trees occured, while the opposite was observed when the irrigation restrictions were applied during stage-III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]