Articles
WHOLE-TREE WATER RELATIONS AND IRRIGATION SCHEDULING FOR MANGO
Article number
992_13
Pages
115 – 122
Language
English
Abstract
Water status in trees is commonly studied by measuring leaf water potential with a pressure bomb, but due to mangos excessive latex exudation, leaf water potential measurements cannot be reliably measured this way.
We have measured xylem sap flow in the tree trunk, microvariation of branch diameter (microdendro-metry), and leaf gas exchange to study mango water relations.
The main Australian mango cultivar Kensington Pride is very sensitive to air dryness, more so than most Florida cultivars.
Both sap flow (tree water use) and twig/branch shrinkage have been shown to be good plant-based indicators of plant water status and been successfully used to control irrigation.
However, at the present time, both techniques are far from being practical or economical enough to be used by growers for their irrigation scheduling.
A low cost, farmer friendly tool for irrigators, FullStop wetting front detectors, was developed by CSIRO in Australia. FullStop is a simple device buried in the ground in the rooting zone, which will tell the irrigators when to switch off irrigation.
This system has great potential as an aid to irrigation decision making.
We have measured xylem sap flow in the tree trunk, microvariation of branch diameter (microdendro-metry), and leaf gas exchange to study mango water relations.
The main Australian mango cultivar Kensington Pride is very sensitive to air dryness, more so than most Florida cultivars.
Both sap flow (tree water use) and twig/branch shrinkage have been shown to be good plant-based indicators of plant water status and been successfully used to control irrigation.
However, at the present time, both techniques are far from being practical or economical enough to be used by growers for their irrigation scheduling.
A low cost, farmer friendly tool for irrigators, FullStop wetting front detectors, was developed by CSIRO in Australia. FullStop is a simple device buried in the ground in the rooting zone, which will tell the irrigators when to switch off irrigation.
This system has great potential as an aid to irrigation decision making.
Publication
Authors
Ping Lu
Keywords
sap flow, microdendrometry, plant-based water status indicator, ‘FullStop’
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