In 2019, a project was financed to install Sentek sensors (provided by Ecosearch) in pear orchards in the southern region of Tuscany. The project involved comparing the results obtained between control fields, i.e., those plots managed autonomously by the farmer without recourse to irrigation advice, and the so-called SSD plots, with a type of management based on what was measured by the Sentek probes.
A total of six probes installed between 2019 and 2022 were equally distributed among the three varieties under consideration: Carmen, Conference and Williams.
Although there was an objective difficulty in comparing the two management methods, the water savings were immediately evident due to the pear trees’ different ages and soil fertility (the control plots are much more developed, located downstream, and therefore much more fertile). Previously, irrigation was reaching a depth of 90cm, but with Sentek monitoring, drip irrigation was adjusted to reach a depth of no more than 40-50cm, (the root zone) (Figure 1). Watering durations were reduced from 6 to 3 hours, halving the amount of water applied, while still maintaining average productivity.
Figure 1: IrriMAX Live highlights root absorption concentrated in the first 4 layers
Further analysis on productivity highlights whilst irrigation was higher for Conference than the control, slightly lower values were recorded for Williams and Carmen in the SSD plots. However, this was mainly attributable to mature plants in the control plots (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Productivity for each variety during 2019-2022
From a qualitative point of view, only a few differences between the two types of management were noticeable, especially for Williams and Conference, with the fruit size being concentrated on diameters above 60mm (commercial reference) (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Distribution frequency of the fruit diameters during the period 2019-2022
In conclusion, six Sentek probes were used to measure the control and SSD fields of three types of pears in Tuscany – Conference, Carmen and Williams. In the Carmen and Williams plots, the SSD plots (plots managed by utilising Sentek probes and IrriMAX software), irrigation times were reduced to target the root zone, leading to water savings up to 50%. Improved irrigation management yielded monetary savings without sacrificing fruit size or quality.
