Effects of irrigation deprivation during the harvest period on nonstructural carbohydrate and nitrogen contents of dormant, mature almond trees

Effect of irrigation deprivation during the harvest period on the nonstructural carbohydrate (NC) content of dormant, mature, field-grown almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb cv. Nonpareil) trees was studied. Roots, trunk, branches, spurs and stems of 12 trees were subsampled in February 1997, across a gradient of irrigation treatments (FI = fully irrigated, MS = moderately stressed and SS = severely stressed) to relate NC concentration to the degree of water stress experienced by individual trees during the previous (1996) harvest period. To assess the effect of water stress on whole-tree NC content, three dormant FI trees and three dormant SS trees were excavated on December 10, 1997, and dry weights and NC and N concentrations of the tree components were determined. Whole-tree biomass did not differ significantly between FI and SS trees, although SS trees tended to have less total dry weight. Although roots constituted just 13% of tree biomass, they stored 36 and 44% of tree NC and N contents, respectively. There were negative relationships between the seasonal minimum values of both midday (Psi(ms)) and predawn (Psi(pd)) stem water potentials during the harvest period and root NC content of dormant trees. Severe water stress during the harvest period resulted in a 26% reduction in NC content and a 50% reduction in biomass of current-year stems (> 5 cm in length) per tree. The reduction in NC content is consistent with the previously reported late season reductions in leaf function and persistence. The SS trees exhibited a reduction in NC content but not in N content per tree, indicating that late season accumulation of NC and N were uncoupled in trees subjected to severe harvest-period water stress.