Articles
Effect of water stress on some physiological indices in young pear trees
Article number
1253_10
Pages
71 – 76
Language
English
Abstract
Stress from high temperature is closely related to water deficit and drought.
Drought is caused by a lack of water, and happens usually with high temperatures.
This field experiment was designed to assess the effect of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and mulching on some physiological indices of young ‘Williams’ pear trees.
Four levels of irrigation were applied, 100% of evapotranspiration (ET) as control (1.6 L h‑1 of water drippers) and water deficit in 80% of full ET (1.28 L h‑1 drippers) 60% of full ET (0.96 L h‑1 drippers) and 40% (0.64 L h‑1 drippers). ET was estimated using the FAO Penman Monteith approach.
For each treatment we used 10 trees, 5 of which were mulched with a 20 cm layer of wood chips while in a row with a width of 60 cm, on both sides of the tree by 30 cm.
The experiment was conducted in Kosovo using a nested experimental design.
Based on two-way analysis of variance, we found significant changes in three physiological parameters.
The levels of irrigation had an effect on stomatal conductance and leaf temperature.
Irrigation and mulching had a combined influence on three parameters; stomatal conductance, leaf temperature and chlorophyll.
High leaf temperatures had an effect on stomatal conductance: the higher the temperature, the lower the stomatal conductance.
The highest leaf temperatures were found under water deficit 40%. Significantly higher stomatal conductance and chlorophyll values were found in mulching treatments.
The highest values of leaf temperature were found in no-mulch treatments.
Drought is caused by a lack of water, and happens usually with high temperatures.
This field experiment was designed to assess the effect of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and mulching on some physiological indices of young ‘Williams’ pear trees.
Four levels of irrigation were applied, 100% of evapotranspiration (ET) as control (1.6 L h‑1 of water drippers) and water deficit in 80% of full ET (1.28 L h‑1 drippers) 60% of full ET (0.96 L h‑1 drippers) and 40% (0.64 L h‑1 drippers). ET was estimated using the FAO Penman Monteith approach.
For each treatment we used 10 trees, 5 of which were mulched with a 20 cm layer of wood chips while in a row with a width of 60 cm, on both sides of the tree by 30 cm.
The experiment was conducted in Kosovo using a nested experimental design.
Based on two-way analysis of variance, we found significant changes in three physiological parameters.
The levels of irrigation had an effect on stomatal conductance and leaf temperature.
Irrigation and mulching had a combined influence on three parameters; stomatal conductance, leaf temperature and chlorophyll.
High leaf temperatures had an effect on stomatal conductance: the higher the temperature, the lower the stomatal conductance.
The highest leaf temperatures were found under water deficit 40%. Significantly higher stomatal conductance and chlorophyll values were found in mulching treatments.
The highest values of leaf temperature were found in no-mulch treatments.
Authors
L. Lepaja, E. Kullaj, K. Lepaja, V. Avdiu, A. Zajmi
Keywords
pear, water stress, stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, chlorophyll
Online Articles (60)