Water Status, Irrigation Requirements and Fruit Growth of Apple Trees Grown Under Photovoltaic Panels

This article describes a planned three-year study (2019-2022) to understand the effect of shading below solar panels in apple production. This study includes tree water status, irrigation requirements, and fruit growth. The first-year results show that the presence of solar panels on top of apple trees improved their water status with less water applied in the period prior to harvest without any negative effects in fruit growth rates than with trees that had no solar panels.