• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 1999

This study measures the influence of grass cover on water use and shoot growth of apple trees growing under different soil water regimes in temperate climate conditions and evaluates monthly crop coefficients of such conditions during four months of the growing season in 1995. To do so, double pot lysimeter experiments of 3-year-old Fuji' apple (Males domestica Borkh.) trees under a transparent rain shield were designed and installed. Trees were triplicate under three soil water regimes: (A) drip-irrigation at -50 kPa of soil matric potential (IR50). (B) drip-irrigation at -80 kPa of soil matric potential (IR80), and (C) constant shallow water table at 0.45 m below the soil surface (WT45). In each treatment, two soil surface conditions were tested: the soil surface bare, and covered with turf grasses. Mean monthly water use increased with increasing soil matric potential for drip irrigation and was greatest in the WT45 treatment. Monthly crop coefficients increased linearly in time for drip-irrigated apple trees ($r^2$ values of $0.953^{***}$ for turf grass-covered system and of $0.862^{***}$ for bare surface system), while those obtained in the WT45 treatment fluctuated, Duncan's multiple range tests for shoot growth showed that grass-covered IR50 was most favorable to apple trees. while bare surface waterlogged situation was most adverse at least in part due to a lack of oxygen in the root zone. Mid-season leaf Kjeldahl-N was higher in drip-irrigated apple trees than in WT45 trees, while soil Kjeldahl-N was not different irrespective of treatments.