Articles
Irrigation scheduling for container grown Spiraea japonica based on cumulative vapor pressure deficit
Article number
1296_103
Pages
815 – 822
Language
English
Abstract
The increasing scarcity of water globally is a prominent issue facing the nursery industry, one that must be dealt with if the industry is to remain viable as climate change continues to escalate.
Current irrigation practices involve nurseries watering plants as they see fit, usually based off agronomic indicators (e.g., plant height, visual signs of wilting). These are not suitable in providing timely data for interpreting the need to irrigate and leads to very subjective watering schedules that lean to the side of over-watering.
Past work in this lab has quantified the relationship between cumulative plant water stress (cWS) and cumulative vapor pressure deficit (cVPD), identifying species-specific water stress thresholds in relation to cVPD. The objective of this study was to use irrigation schedules based on cVPD correlated to the predicted cWS of the popular containerized ornamental plant Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’. The aim was to generate irrigation schedules which decrease water use while not impacting market quality.
A split-plot field trial with irrigation as the main-plot factor and mycorrhizae as the split-plot factor was employed.
Three irrigation treatment/schedules were applied via overhead irrigation: 1) conventional practice (nursery control), 2) moderate water stress, and 3) high water stress.
Three mycorrhizae treatments were examined in combination; 1) inoculation at time of potting, 2) inoculation at time of potting and transplant, and 3) control (no inoculation). The growth and quality of the plants were recorded throughout a growing season.
The results indicate that water use can be cut by up to 64% compared to conventional practices while maintaining acceptable (sellable) plant quality.
This demonstrates that irrigation schedules based off of cVPD significantly reduce water use without impacting the growth and quality of Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’.
Current irrigation practices involve nurseries watering plants as they see fit, usually based off agronomic indicators (e.g., plant height, visual signs of wilting). These are not suitable in providing timely data for interpreting the need to irrigate and leads to very subjective watering schedules that lean to the side of over-watering.
Past work in this lab has quantified the relationship between cumulative plant water stress (cWS) and cumulative vapor pressure deficit (cVPD), identifying species-specific water stress thresholds in relation to cVPD. The objective of this study was to use irrigation schedules based on cVPD correlated to the predicted cWS of the popular containerized ornamental plant Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’. The aim was to generate irrigation schedules which decrease water use while not impacting market quality.
A split-plot field trial with irrigation as the main-plot factor and mycorrhizae as the split-plot factor was employed.
Three irrigation treatment/schedules were applied via overhead irrigation: 1) conventional practice (nursery control), 2) moderate water stress, and 3) high water stress.
Three mycorrhizae treatments were examined in combination; 1) inoculation at time of potting, 2) inoculation at time of potting and transplant, and 3) control (no inoculation). The growth and quality of the plants were recorded throughout a growing season.
The results indicate that water use can be cut by up to 64% compared to conventional practices while maintaining acceptable (sellable) plant quality.
This demonstrates that irrigation schedules based off of cVPD significantly reduce water use without impacting the growth and quality of Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’.
Publication
Authors
K. Keary, J.A. Stoochnoff, T. Graham, M.A. Dixon
Keywords
mycorrhizae, ornamental nurseries, water-use, water management
Groups involved
- Division Precision Horticulture and Engineering
- Division Greenhouse and Indoor Production Horticulture
- Working Group Organic Greenhouse Horticulture
- Working Group Protected Cultivation, Nettings and Screens for Mild Climates
- Working Group Light in Horticulture
- Working Group Vegetable Grafting
- Working Group Computational Fluid Dynamics in Agriculture
- Working Group Mechanization, Digitization, Sensing and Robotics
- Working Group Modelling Plant Growth, Environmental Control, Greenhouse Environment
- Working Group Greenhouse Environment and Climate Control
- Working Group Design and Automation in Integrated Indoor Production Systems
- Commission Agroecology and Organic Farming Systems
- Division Landscape and Urban Horticulture
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