Determination of the effect of irrigation scheduling on the yield and quality of olive (Memecik) trees in Aydın conditions

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the irrigation program schedule of the Memecik olive variety, which has economic importance in the region, and the effect of this schedule on yield and quality in Aydın conditions. Materials and Methods: Memecik variety olive trees, which are widely grown in Aydın, were used as material in the experiment. The study contains two different irrigation intervals, which are 7 and 14 days, in which of the daily evaporation amount measured from class A pan was cummulatively calculated, and 5 different irrigation water levels (125%, 100%, 50%, 25% and 0%, depending on the cumulativetely evaporation amount) along with the waterless subject in each irrigation interval. It was conducted under field conditions in 2018, 2019 and 2020 according to three-repetition randomized block design by using 125%, 100%, %50, 25% and %0 (waterless)). Result: As a result of the study, average yield values after 3 years repetition varied between 14.34 kg and 23.79 kg in 7 and 14 days intervals of irrigation levels. The amount of irrigation water applied by calculating the amount of cumulatively evaporation varied between 172.78 mm and 1227.77 mm. According to these values, irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) values are between 0.60 and 2.18 kg/m3; Total water consumption (IWUE) values varied between 0.69 and 3.12 kg/m3. It has been observed that the seasonal yield-response factor (ky) varies are between 0.04 and 0.52. Conclusion: When the irrigation subjects were compared with each other in the 7 and 14 day irrigation intervals, the morphological observation results showed that the average values in the 7 days irrigation interval were higher and there was a slight decrease in the values despite the same amount of water being given in the 14 days irrigation interval. Although the water use efficiency (WUE) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) values obtained as a result of the study are similar to previous studies on the Memecik variety, the highest value was obtained in the A3 subject (7 days interval 100% irrigation level) in the morphological observation results. Since the aim of the study is to get maximum efficiency from minimum irrigation water, it can be suggested that A1 (7 days irrigation interval, 25% irrigation), which has the highest irrigation water use efficiency, be taken into consideration in the irrigation planning to be created in the region.