| Summary: | Almond (<i>Prunus dulcis</i> Mill. (D.A. Webb)) plantations in irrigated semi-arid areas need to successfully face the new scenarios of climate change combining sustainable irrigation strategies and tolerant cultivars to water stress. This work examines the response of young almond (<i>cvs</i>. Guara, Marta, and Lauranne) subjected to different irrigation doses under semi-arid conditions (South-West Spain). The trial was conducted during two seasons (2018–2019) with three irrigation strategies: A full-irrigated treatment (FI), which received 100% of the irrigation requirements (IR), and two sustained-deficit irrigation strategies that received 75% (SDI<sub>75</sub>) and 65% (SDI<sub>65</sub>) of IR. Crop water status was assessed by leaf water potential (Ψ<sub><i>leaf</i></sub>) and stomatal conductance (<i>g<sub>s</sub></i>) measurements, determining the yield response at the end of each season. Different physiological responses for the studied cultivars were observed, especially considering the Ψ<sub><i>leaf</i></sub> measurements. In this way, <i>cv</i>. Marta behaved more tolerant, while <i>cvs</i>. Guara and Lauranne maintained higher <i>g<sub>s</sub></i> rates in response to water stress. These differences were also observed in terms of yield. The <i>cv</i>. Lauranne did not reflect yield losses, and the opposite trend was observed for <i>cv</i>. Guara, in which reductions on fruit numbers per tree were detected. On overall, effective irrigation water savings (≈2100 m<sup>3</sup>·ha<sup>−1</sup> in SDI<sub>65</sub>) could be feasible, although these responses are going to be substantially different, depending on the used cultivar.
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