Search results for "Water use efficiency."
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Strategies to decrease water drainage and nitrate emission from soilless cultures of greenhouse tomato
2010
In the spring-summer season of 2005 and 2006, we explored the influence of three fertigation strategies (A–C) on the water and nitrogen use efficiency of semi-closed rockwool culture of greenhouse tomato conducted using saline water (NaCl concentration of 9.5 mol m−3). The strategies under comparison were the following: (A) crop water uptake was compensated by refilling the mixing tank with nutrient solution at full strength (with the concentrations of macronutrients equal or close to the corresponding mean uptake concentrations as determined in previous studies) and the recirculating nutrient solution was flushed out whenever its electrical conductivity (EC) surpassed 4.5 dS m−1 due to the…
Effects of Saline and Deficit Irrigation on Soil-Plant Water Status and Potato Crop Yield under the Semiarid Climate of Tunisia
2019
Water supplies have been decreasing in several semi-arid regions, and it is therefore necessary to adopt irrigation strategies aimed at maximizing water use efficiency. In this paper, the effects of saline and deficit irrigation on water use efficiency and on potato crop response, based on observations of soil and plant water status, were investigated. Experiments were carried out in Central Tunisia, by monitoring potato crop growth during two seasons in four distinct treatments (T1&ndash
Effect of Mycorrhizal Inoculation on Melon Plants under Deficit Irrigation Regimes
2023
The shortage of good quantity and quality of water for irrigated agriculture is a major problem in arid and semiarid regions. To deal with this problem, deficit irrigation (DI) or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation have been proposed and adopted for many crops as a tool to save water, or to improve crop tolerance to drought stress. An experiment was conducted for two consecutive years to evaluate the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on the physiological, morphological, yield, and quality characteristics of melon plants grown under deficit irrigation. Melon crop (Cucumis melo L. cv. Helios) was grown under field conditions adopting a split-plot design with four replications, whe…
Using HYDRUS-2D model to assess the optimal drip lateral depth for eggplant crop in a sandy loam soil of central Tunisia
2016
The main objective of the work is to assess the optimal drip lateral depth for Eggplant crop (Solanum melongena L.) irrigated with a drip system in a sandy loam soil by means of field measurements and simulation models. Initially, the performance of Hydrus-2D was assessed based on the comparison between simulated soil water contents (SWC) and the corresponding measured in two plots, in which laterals with co-extruded emitters were laid on the soil surface (drip irrigation, DI-0) and at 20 cm depth (subsurface drip irrigation, SDI-20), respectively. In order to identify the optimal position of the lateral, the results of different scenarios, obtained by changing the installation depth of the…
Determination of Evapotranspiration and Crop Coefficient of Cactus Pear (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill.) with an Energy Balance Technique
2013
A micrometeorological approach based on surface renewal technique was adopted to estimate evapotranspiration fluxes and crop coefficient data from an irrigated cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill.) orchard under Mediterranean climatic conditions. High-frequency temperature readings were taken above the canopy top in order to get surface renewal sensible heat flux values (HSR). These values were compared against eddy covariance sensible heat fluxes (HEC) for calibration. Latent heat flux (or evapotranspiration, ET) was obtained as the residual of the energy balance equation using HSR. In field measurements of biophysical crop features, physiological characteristic and soil hydraulic compo…
Determination of Evapotranspiration and Annual Biomass Productivity of a Cactus Pear [Opuntia ficus-indica L. (Mill.)] Orchard in a Semiarid Environm…
2013
A micrometeorological approach based on the surface energy balance was adopted to estimate evapotranspiration fluxes and crop coefficient data from an irrigated cactus pear [Opuntia ficus-indica L. (Mill.)] orchard under Mediterranean climatic conditions. Highfrequency temperature readings were taken above the canopy top to get sensible heat flux values (HSR) using the surface renewal technique. These values were compared against eddy covariance sensible heat fluxes (HEC) for calibration. Latent heat flux (or evapotranspiration, ET) was obtained by solving the daily energy balance equation. Measurements of soil hydraulic components were integrated with the analysis of the surface energy flu…
Subsurface drip irrigated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) with saline water under Tunisian climate
2012
Field experiment was conducted at the Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott Meriem (Tunisia) during the growing season (2011/2012) to investigate the effects of water quality on water‘s dynamic in soil (water potential, soilcmoisture distribution, water’s stock in soil) and water use efficiency (WUE) to produce potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Irrigation management treatments were fresh (1 dS m-1) and saline waters (4 dS m-1). Subsurface drip irrigation was used, a rate of 4 L h-1 applied at the same irrigation duration and interval. The results indicate that water content is more uniform using the saline water varies from 15 to 23% than treatment varies from 10 to 26%. The recorded changes o…
Physiological,anatomical and biomass partitioning responses to ozone in the Mediterranean endemic plant Lamottea dianae
2011
Ozone effects on the perennial forb Lamottea dianae were studied in an open-top chamber experiment. Ozone was found to induce reductions in CO 2 assimilation and water use efficiency in the leaves of this species. These reductions were mainly related to a decline in the in vivo CO 2 fixation capacity of Rubisco (V c,max), rather than to stomatal limitations or photoinhibitory damage (F v:F m). In addition to chloroplast degeneration, other observed effects were callose accumulation, formation of pectinaceous wart-like cell wall exudates and phloem alterations. Moreover, ozone exposure significantly reduced root dry biomass. The possible relevance of these adverse effects for Mediterranean f…
Modelling nonlinear dynamics of Crassulacean acid metabolism productivity and water use for global predictions
2021
Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) crops are important agricultural commodities in water-limited environments across the globe, yet modeling of CAM productivity lacks the sophistication of widely used C3 and C4 crop models, in part due to the complex responses of the CAM cycle to environmental conditions. This work builds on recent advances in CAM modeling to provide a framework for estimating CAM biomass yield and water use efficiency from basic principles. These advances, which integrate the CAM circadian rhythm with established models of carbon fixation, stomatal conductance, and the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, are coupled to models of light attenuation, plant respiration, and bioma…
Gas Exchanges and Stem Water Potential Define Stress Thresholds for Efficient Irrigation Management in Olive (Olea europea L.)
2018
With climate change and decreased water supplies, interest in irrigation scheduling based on plant water status is increasing. Stem water potential (ΨSWP) thresholds for irrigation scheduling in olive have been proposed, however, a physiologically-based evaluation of their reliability is needed. A large dataset collected at variable environmental conditions, growing systems, and genotypes was used to characterize the relation between ΨSWP and gas exchanges for olive. Based on the effect of drought stress on the ecophysiological parameters monitored, we described three levels of stress: no stress (ΨSWP above about −2 MPa), where the high variability of stomatal conductance (gs) suggests a ti…