When water availability is less than the amount of water desirable to produce the crop, carefully regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) becomes critical to production of the best crop possible. An RDI strategy minimizes the impacts of a water shortage on fruit size, yield, and quality. Under severe water shortages, RDI may not be feasible and the primary objective might be to simply keep the trees alive.
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Part of a series of Drought Tips written and produced by the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources under an agreement with the California Department of Water Resources.
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