Probes use to save water irrigation in citrus orchards

Water scarcity and salinization of soils resulting in a partial or complete loss of productivity has become a global concern mainly in the arid and semi-arid climate regions. Nowadays, technology offers interesting tools for better irrigation management through soil moisture and salinity sensors at different depth level. This study was conducted in two ‘Nules’ clementine orchards with the same age, vigour and fruit set, located in Mornag region 15 km south of Tunis and receiving all the horticultural cares for commercial production. In both orchards, we installed EnviroScan probes. One orchard was considered as a control where the grower applied its usual irrigation program. In the second one we used probe data for irrigation monitoring and considered it as the treatment case. The irrigation quantities during all the growing season and yield were recorded for both orchards. Results showed that it was possible to reduce water quantity from April to September up to 50% using adequate irrigation monitoring based on the probe data with no difference in yield between the two orchards.