Abstract
ABSTRACTThis research was conducted to determine the water consumption of tomato plants, the effects of water stress on stem sap flow (SF) and its response to climatic factors. SFs in 100% irrigation (T1), 75% (T2) and 50% (T3) of irrigation amount of T1 were monitored using Dynagage sensors. Compared to T1, the difference in SF was observed under deficit irrigation in the same climatic conditions on sunny days although there was no apparent difference between T1 and T2 on cloudy days. Under T1, the correlation and regression relationships between SF and climatic factors were analyzed at daytime (6:00–22:00), morning (6:00–14:00) and afternoon (14:00–22:00). Considering daytime, the order of sensitive indicators to SF was VPD > LI > Ta and LI > VPD > Ta for the Fall-Winter sunny days and Spring-Summer season, respectively. The water uptake over SFs measured for Fall-Winter and Spring-Summer periods were calculated as 168.65 and 229.18 mm, respectively.
Highlights
The process of crop transpiration is essential for the overall development of crops
As a result of this, our study focused on achieving the following objectives: (1) to estimate diurnal and seasonal water consumption of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants by measuring the stem sap flow (SF); (2) to investigate the diurnal SF course on typical selected days along with diurnal course of climatic factors under different irrigation levels and (3) to investigate the response of daily SF course and the relationship between SF and climatic parameters
The daily average water uptake of well-watered tomato plants calculated based on SF measurement ranged between 0.30 and 0.80 l day−1 plant−1 during Fall-Winter growth and 0.50 and 0.80 l day−1 plant−1 during Spring-Summer growth
Summary
The process of crop transpiration is essential for the overall development of crops. It tends to promote the absorption of water and nutrients it is often a complex physiological process, often influenced by a variety of environmental conditions, morphological structure and physiological status of the crop. In the course of this study on the stem SF rate, the theoretical basis of the stem heat balance theory was used to calculate the stem flow. These methods are preferred because they provide direct measurements of SF in situ with a high degree of accuracy and precision while being only mildly invasive. SF measurement is considered as a good tool to illustrate water relations and for irrigation scheduling (Juhász et al 2011) They are relatively inexpensive, automated for continuous high-resolution monitoring of water use by many replicate plants (Madurapperuma et al 2009). The study of SF can be helpful to evaluate the impact of environmental factors on transpiration and take necessary measures to improve plant water use efficiency (Ffolliott et al 2003)
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