Effects of canopy size and water stress over the crop coefficient of a "Tempranillo" vineyard in south-western Spain

This paper describes the assessment of the crop coefficient of an irrigated Tempranillo vineyard measured in a weighing lysimeter during 5 years in south-western Spain. During the first year of the study (2006), young vines displayed a different canopy growth compared to the subsequent years. From 2007 to 2010, vines experienced 2 years with no restriction in water supply, and two other years with short periods of crop water stress. Basal crop coefficient (K cb) started from 0. 2 at bud-break until 1. 0 at full development in every year, being this maximum management-dependent. K cb showed a good correlation with canopy size indices, which allows to interpolate these results to a wide range of commercial vine systems that are usually managed with lower vegetation size. Moreover, a simple linear model of crop evapotranspiration reduction with relative water content is presented, allowing the estimation of consumptive water use under deficit irrigation conditions. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the projects INIA (RTA 2005-0038-C06-05) and (RTA-2008-00037-C04-03), by the project CONSOLIDER CSD2006-0067 and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).Peer Reviewe