Agriculturae Conspectus Scientificus, Vol 90, No 2 (2025)

Effect of Shading Net on Absorption of Elements, and Soil Moisture in Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) Orchard

Maryam TATARI, Mohsen DEHGHANI, Raziyeh MAHMOUDI, Daryoush ATASHKAR

Pages: 123-130

Summary


The most important abiotic stress in yield production in the central regions of Iran is a shortage of water and climatic changes. Climate change in quince orchards has resulted in problems such as the reduction of water resources. This research was conducted in the quince orchard with 20-year-old trees in 2022 and 2023. The quince cultivar was Isfahan, grafted on hawthorn rootstock. More than a thousand meters of this orchard were equipped with a shade system with green 50% shade nets, and another part was examined as a control plot without a shade structure. The leaf area and fruit in each tree under the shading nets were more than twice outside the shade net. The shade house reduced the pan evaporation by 743 m3 per hectare during 130 days. Potassium, calcium, and magnesium nutrients and all the micro-elements in the leaves grown under the shade were significantly more abundant than in the leaves of the control plot. The average radiation under the shade treatment decreased by more than 2.5 times compared to outside the shade net, which led to a reduction in water consumption. Considering the reduction in evaporation under shade cover, it is recommended to use this structure in quince orchards in arid and semi-arid areas with high radiation intensity, such as the central regions of Iran.


Keywords


elements, evaporation, green cover, fruit number, radiation, soil moisture

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