The experiment was carried out on two-year-old apricot trees (Prunus
armeniaca L.), cv. Búlida, on two rootstocks: Pollizo prune (P. insititia
L.) (P) and Real Fino apricot (RF), growing outdoors in 35 litre pots
(40 cm diameter) containing a mixture of clay loam topsoil and peat
(4 : 1 v/v). Plants were drip irrigated daily using one emitter of 4 l h–1
per tree, maintaining the soil matrix potential at about –20 kPa (monitored
with tensiometers placed at 15 cm depth). Routine fertilisation
was applied (65 g N, 48 g K2O, 72 g P2O5 and 1.5 g Fe (Fe-EDDHA)
per plant and year) through the drip irrigation system every 2 weeks.
No root emergence from pots into the surrounding soil was observed.