Heat damage has become an issue of concern to many of the California’s avocado growers, and evaporative cooling with overhead sprinklers is the most widely used method of lowering the temperature of the canopy and fruit. Alas, water, the most available tool for cooling orchard canopies and fruit, is a precious commodity in avocado production areas, and farmers and researchers are still working to fine-tune their understanding of the point at which the crop must be protected.
"We need to develop predictive models to know when the temperature will be too high for the orchards," Giulia Marino, UC Davis tree physiologist told agalert.com. "Most studies are based on the temperature of the air, not the leaves or wood, but we want to know how much the tree organs heat up. Since microclimate is affected by the foliage, we can impact it by practices like pruning and irrigation."
Climate change could make heat damage an issue for many crops as recent studies says Marino. She said management of heat damage may force orchard growers to rethink how they space, train and prune their trees.
