Effects of water and fertilizer deficit regulation with drip irrigation at different growth stages on fruit quality improvement of kiwifruit in seasonal arid areas of Southwest China

For a long time, seasonal drought occurs frequently in Southwest China, and the management of water and fertilizer in kiwifruit orchards has no quantitative standards, which seriously affects the yield and quality of kiwifruit. Therefore, the effects of water and fertilizer deficit regulation with drip irrigation (WFDRDI) on the quality of kiwifruit at different growth stages were explored to achieve water and fertilizer saving, and green and efficient production of kiwifruit. We select ‘Jin Yan’ kiwifruit and set two water deficit levels (WD20% and WD40%) and three fertilizer deficit levels (FD15%, FD30% and FD45%) at bud burst to leafing stage (stage I), flowering to fruit set stage (stage II), fruit expansion stage (stage III) and fruit maturation stage (stage IV), respectively, with a full irrigation and fertilization as the control treatment (CK) in 2017 and 2018. Results showed that the WFDRDI at stage II and III had significant effect on fruit physical quality of kiwifruit, specifically, the III-WD40%FD30% and III-WD20%FD45% treatments significantly increased fruit firmness by 13.62 and 15.59% (P