It is a tree belonging to the Rosaceae family and native to Southeast Asia. It is one of the most widespread and widely cultivated fruit trees worldwide, due to its nutritional value, its ability to adapt to different climates, and the quality of the products obtained in the processing industry: juices, cider, unfermented musts, spirits, jams, candies, and jellies.
The world’s largest apple production occurs in China, the United States, France, Italy, and Turkey.
Apple trees adapt to a wide variety of climates, with the best conditions being warm days, cool nights, and high levels of solar radiation. They require about 1,000 cold units and approximately 150 frost-free days. This is the limiting factor for apple cultivation in southern regions: the lack of cold. Apple trees are frost-hardy but suffer fruit damage when temperatures drop below -3 °C. Since they bloom later than other deciduous crops, the risk of frost damage is lower.
It is less demanding than the Peral variety, as it adapts to a wide variety of soils, though it thrives best in well-drained, medium-textured soils with a pH of around 6. It has a relative tolerance for calcareous soils, and the wide range of rootstocks makes it suitable for planting in many different soil types.
Depending on the variety, the planting spacing varies; the most common spacing for traditional varieties is 5 x 6 m or 6 x 7 m, and for modern, smaller varieties, the planting spacing is usually 2.5 X 4.0 m: 1,000–2,300 trees per hectare.
There are several methods for estimating water demand:
Soil moisture status, sap flow, and growth index are typically measured to determine a crop’s water requirements. A lack of water during fruit set results in smaller fruits, while a water deficit during the fruit set stage causes fruit drop.
In small-tree orchards, drip irrigation is used with one or two lateral lines per row and a 0.6-meter spacing between drippers. In larger-tree orchards, where the spacing between trees is greater, sprinklers or mini-sprinklers may also be used. Irrigation should be abundant once the tree begins its growing season, and sprinklers are often used to prevent frost damage.
Selecting the dripline: A wide range of options ensures the proper selection of dripline tubing. The combination of emitter model, flow rate per emitter, and spacing between emitters not only ensures the delivery of the water rates specified in the irrigation strategy but also guarantees a large volume of moist soil available for root development in both surface drip irrigation and subsurface drip irrigation.
Digital Farming: In addition to selecting the appropriate dripline tubing, the use of AZUD QGROW equipment for the precise management of water and nutrient inputs—based on data from soil, plant, and weather sensors—enables:
