Water availability in three artificial substrates during Prunus xcistena growth: variable threshold values

In nursery plant production, optimum water use is important to maintain productivity and make this production environmentally sound. Water should be supplied when it becomes difficult to extract for the plant, at a bulk soil water potential threshold value that may vary with environmental conditions...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science Vol. 123; no. 5; p. 931
Main Authors:	Caron, J. (Universite Laval, Sainte-Foy, Quebec.), Xu, H.L, Barnier, P.Y, Duchesne, I, Tardif, P
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	01-09-1998
Subjects:	ABSORCION DE AGUA ABSORPTION D'EAU ARENA ASERRIN BARK CHEMICOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES COMPOST COMPOSTS CORTEZA DISPONIBILIDAD DEL AGUA EAU DISPONIBLE ECORCE EFFICACITE EFFICIENCY EFICACIA ESTOMA GROWING MEDIA PEAT PEPINIERE PLANT NURSERIES POTENCIAL HIDRICO DEL SUELO POTENTIEL HYDRIQUE POTENTIEL HYDRIQUE DU SOL PROPIEDADES FISICOQUIMICAS PROPRIETE PHYSICOCHIMIQUE PRUNUS RACINE RAICES ROOTS SABLE SAND SAWDUST SCIURE SOIL WATER POTENTIAL STOMATA STOMATAL RESISTANCE STOMATE SUBSTRAT DE CULTURE SUBSTRATOS DE CULTIVO TENSION DE ABSORCION TOURBE TURBA USO DEL AGUA UTILISATION DE L'EAU VIVEROS WATER AVAILABILITY WATER POTENTIAL WATER UPTAKE WATER USE XILEMA XYLEM XYLEME
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Summary:	In nursery plant production, optimum water use is important to maintain productivity and make this production environmentally sound. Water should be supplied when it becomes difficult to extract for the plant, at a bulk soil water potential threshold value that may vary with environmental conditions, species and substrate properties. The objective of this study was to determine the threshold value at which availability of water rapidly drops for three newly developed substrates to be used in the production of Prunus x cistena. Xylem water potential and potential at the soil-root interface were used as indices of water availability and were compared with bulk soil water potential. Water was easily available (no drop in xylem or soil-root interface water potential) from container capacity down to a bulk soil water potential of about -10 kPa when xylem water potential was used as an indicator and -8 kPa when the soil-root interface water potential was chosen as the indicator. No significant differences in the threshold values were found between substrates, consistent with the absence of differences in the substrate physical properties. The differences in water availability among substrates were consistent with an observed difference in salt content. The important variability observed in the threshold suggests that plant based measures may be preferred to soil based measures in assessing water availability in artificial mixes
Bibliography:	F60 P33 1999003402
ISSN:	0003-1062 2327-9788
DOI:	10.21273/jashs.123.5.931