The current study was conducted over four years between 2016 and 2019 to determine the effects of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) before and after harvesting of sweet cherry on yield, physiological, vegetative and fruit quality parameters. The current study used the 0900 Ziraat sweet cherry cultivar grafted onto Gisela 6 rootstock. There were six different treatments: I_C, (Control) where soil moisture was kept at field capacity for each irrigation, I₂₅, with 25% deficit irrigation of I_C after harvesting, I₅₀, with 50% deficit irrigation of I_C after harvesting, I_25BH, with no-deficit irrigation 30 days after full bloom and 25% deficit irrigation after this period, I_50BH, with no-deficit irrigation 30 days after full bloom and 50% deficit irrigation after this period, and I_FRM, with farmer's treatment of excessive irrigation (150% of ET) from colouring of fruit till harvest and 50% deficit irrigation after harvesting. When compared to I_C, water saving ranged from 20.2–45.6%. The fruit yield obtained under I₂₅ was increased by 21.8% in the last year of the current study than the yield obtained under I_C treatment. Trunk and shoot growth increased for all treatments. Leaf water potential (Ψ_md) and stomata conductance (g_sw) were affected by RDI. I_FRM and I₂₅ had a positive effect on fruit size, the same as I_C. Water deficit (I_BH50) applied before harvesting increased fruit flesh firmness. I₂₅ treatment (25% water deficit after harvesting) can be applied by sweet cherry growers because it leads to high yield, better fruit quality and water saving.

Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is one of deficit irrigation (DI) techniques and it is developed to minimize irrigation inputs in fruit production, especially in areas where water resources are limited, is recommended for saving irrigation water in agriculture. This study was conducted to determine the effects of deficit irrigation treatments applied in different growth periods on plant water consumption, water yield relations, stomatal conductance and yield of Braeburn apple variety (grafted on M9 rootstock). Experiments were conducted in the years 2010, 2011, and 2012 at Fruit Research Institute, Eğirdir, Isparta, Turkey. Six different irrigation treatments were applied as I1; non-deficit irrigation program, I2; continuous deficit irrigation program (CDI), I3; deficit irrigation program between the 40th and 70th days after full bloom (DAFB), I4; deficit irrigation program between the 70th and 100th DAFB, I5; deficit irrigation program between the 100th and 130th DAFB and I6; deficit irrigation program between the 130th and 160th DAFB. The highest yield (55.2, 54.1 and 63.8 t ha-1 in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively) and water use efficiency (WUE) (0.130, 0.129 and 0.137 t ha-1 mm-1 in 2010, 2011 and 2012) values were obtained from I3 treatment in all short-term deficit irrigation treatments. The stomatal conductance values decreased during the short-term deficit irrigation treatments, but the values increased following the deficit irrigation periods. The results revealed that apple trees grafted on M9 rootstock were influenced by short-term water stress, but they were able to cope with stress after the deficit periods. In all deficit irrigation treatments, yield response factor (Ky) ranged from 0.77 to 2.11 Apple tree yield was less sensitive to water deficit in I3 compared to other treatments. Therefore I3 treatment was found to be applicable in case of scarce water resources since it ensured water saving.

Almond production is concentrated in semi arid regions where fresh surface water supplies are increasingly scarce and ground waters often salinized. In drought years growers have to restrict fresh water application, either stressing the trees with inadequate water or adding saline water and reducing water stress but causing salt stress. Tree response to combined water and salt stress are critical to management decisions but there is little to no information at this time. We examine the water and salt stress and combined water-salt stress response of two almond cultivars in a two year outdoor experiment with young trees. Water treatments consisted of 100%, 80% and 60% of tree ET and salt treatments of EC= 0.55, 1.20, 2.40 and 3.0 dS m-1), for a total of 120 trees in twelve treatents two cultivars and five replicates. We examined water use, trunk diameter and physiological parameters. All parameters showed significant decline starting at 80% water application and EC 1.2 dS m-1. In terms of growth rather than survival, almond was sensitive to water as well as salt stress. Equations for reduction in trunk growth were developed for treatments with either salinity only or water only stress. We evaluated combined stress using three stress response models: additive stress, dominant stress model and a multiplicative stress model where the predicted growth loss is obtained by multiplying the relative growth response for the individual stresses. Trunk growth under combined water and salt stress treatments was well predicted only when using a multiplicative stress response function.

En tr Sweet cherry production areas have been increasing in last years and rootstocks which have different growing characteristic are being used. Therefore, responses of new and present rootstocks to water stress must be determined. For this purpose, one year old 0900 Ziraat sweet cherry variety grafted on Mahaleb (Prunus mahalep L.), Mazzard (Prunus avium L.), Ma x Ma 14 (Prunus mahalep L. x Prunus avium L.), CAB 6 (Prunus cerasus L.) ve Gisela 6 (Prunus cerasus x P. canescens L.) rootstocks were used in this study. This study was conducted at Fruit Research Station, Eğirdir, Isparta-Turkey. The trees were planted into 50-liter pots with 1:2:1:0.5 ratio including sandloam soil:peat:manure. During the experiment, four different drought level were applied to all variety/rootstocks combinations (D₁: the soil was fully irrigated to reach field capacity in each irrigation, D₂, D₃ and D₄ treatments; the irrigation levels were changed by giving %75, %50 and %25 of irrigation water applied to D₁ treatment). Trunk cross sectional area, shoot length, shoot diameter and leaf area growth were affected negatively depending to stress level intensity. The highest decreasing for leaf area and stomatal density were determined in nurseries grafted on CAB 6 and Gisela 6 rootstocks. According to the degree of resistance to water stress, the rootstocks are ranked as Mahalep, Mazzard, Ma x Ma 14, Gisela 6 and CAB 6. If clonal rootstock are used for sweet cherry growing areas where water resources are scarce Ma x Ma 14 rootstocks can be recommended to sweet cherry growers. Son yıllarda kiraz üretim alanlarını artmış ve farklı gelişim özelliklerine sahip anaçlar da kullanılmaya başlanılmıştır. Bu durumda mevcut ve yeni anaçların su stresine karşı gösterdiği tepkilerin belirlenmesine gereksinim duyulmaktadır. Bu amaçla yürütülen bu çalışmada Mahlep (Prunus mahalep L.), Kuş kirazı (Prunus avium L.), MaxMa 14 (Prunus mahalep L. x Prunus avium L.), CAB 6 (Prunus cerasus L.) ve Gisela 6 (Prunus cerasus x P. Canescens L.) anaçları üzerine aşılı 0900 Ziraat kiraz çeşidi 1 yaşlı fidanlar kullanılmıştır. Deneme Eğirdir Meyvecilik Araştırma İstasyonu Müdürlüğünde yürütülmüştür. Fidanlar, içerisinde 1:2:1:0.5 oranlarında kum:tınlı toprak:torf:çiftlik gübresi harcı bulunan 50 litre hacimli saksılara dikilmiştir. Denemede tüm anaç/çeşit kombinasyonları için 4 farklı kuraklık düzeyi uygulaması (1. uygulama: her sulamada toprak neminin tarla kapasitesine kadar tamamlandığı konu ve 1. uygulamaya verilen suyun %75, %50 ve %25’inin uygulandığı 2., 3. ve 4. uygulamalar) yer almıştır. Gövde kesit alanı, sürgün uzunluğu, sürgün çapı ve yaprak alanı gelişimleri stres düzeylerinin yoğunluğuna bağlı olarak olumsuz etkilenmiştir. Yaprak alanı ve stoma yoğunluğunda en yüksek azalma CAB 6 ve Gisela 6 anaçlı fidanlarda belirlenmiştir. 0900 Ziraat kiraz çeşidinin aşılı olduğu anaçlarda su stresine dayanıklılık bakımından sıralama Mahlep, Kuş kirazı, Maxma 14, Gisela 6, CAB 6 olarak belirlenmiştir. Su kaynaklarının yetersiz olabileceği dikkate alınacak koşullarda klon anaç kullanılacaksa Maxma 14 anacı üreticilere tavsiye edilebilir.

Dormancy breakers are widely employed in regions with an insufficient chill accumulation to enhance floral bud break in sweet cherry production. Dormex (HC) has not been authorized in Europe and many other countries due to its detrimental effects on human health (carcinogenic) and the environment. This situation has increased the demand for alternative chemicals to HC. The current study was conducted in an orchard of 5-year-old ‘Royal Tioga^®’ sweet cherry trees (Prunus avium L.) grafted on MaxMa 14 rootstocks in the Karayusuflu Village (at an altitude of 50 m), Adana, a Mediterranean city in Türkiye. Levante (LV) and HC were applied approximately 30 days before the anticipated dormancy break of the buds. Chill accumulation was quantified monthly during the 2023–2024 winter season using the chilling hours below 7.2 °C (467 h) and chill units (280 CUs). This study evaluated the effects of dormancy breakers on hormonal changes in floral buds, focusing specifically on gibberellic acid (GA₃) and abscisic acid (ABA). Also, their impact on fruit set and quality parameters was assessed. The findings revealed that the LV and HC applications reduced the ABA content in flower buds during the dormancy period compared to the control. LV significantly improved bud break rates (56.8%) and fruit set (85.2%) while positively influencing the fruit quality parameters and yield. No significant differences between the LV and HC treatments were observed regarding average fruit weight (8.8–8.4 g) and yield values (3.7–3.5 kg tree⁻¹). These results suggest LV as an alternative to HC for early-season cherry production in warm climates.