Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis) growth and ion accumulation under irrigation with waters of different salt contents

Xiaobin Li, Shuqin Wan, Yaohu Kang, Xiulong Chen and Linlin Chu

Agricultural Water Management, 2016, vol. 163, issue C, 180-189

Abstract: Soil salinity and saline groundwater are major constraints to the cultivation of landscape plants in coastal regions. Soil tillage, drip-irrigation and a gravel–sand layer were used for reclamation of high saline silt-soils in a coastal region of China. Chinese roses (Rosa chinensis), a salt-sensitive species, were planted in the reclaimed soil under field conditions to determine the effects of salinity on rose growth and ion uptake, using five salinity levels of 0.8, 3.1, 4.7, 6.3 and 7.8dS/m of drip irrigation. Tensiometers were buried at a depth of 20cm to control the soil matric potential (SMP), keeping the SMP over −5kPa the first year, and over −10kPa the second year. Chinese rose relative leaf water deficit, dry matter production, number of flowers, root development and distribution and other plant growth parameters were assessed. Sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) concentrations in roots, stems and leaves were determined. The increasing salinity of irrigation water had adverse effects on rose growth and ion balance, and salt stress had the greatest impact on relative leaf water deficit value. When irrigated with saline water, most roots penetrated beyond 16–19cm depth into the high-salinity subsoil, which was disadvantageous to the absorption of water and nutrients. The SMP should be controlled at −5 to −10kPa in the second year for irrigation with saline water of >3dS/m, to promote a greater concentration of roots in the lower-salt top soil. Rose plants stored most absorbed Na and Cl ions in roots and stems, and Ca, Mg and K in leaves; however, leaf damage still occurred due to greater reductions in Ca/Na, Mg/Na and especially K/Na ratios. Increasing Na concentration and decreasing K/Na ratio had an adverse impact on dry matter production. Therefore, soluble potash should be applied for saline water irrigation to increase the selective absorption ratio of K, to better counteract the effect of the high Na concentrations in this soil.

Keywords: Saline silt-soil; Drip-irrigation; Chinese rose; Saline water; Growth; Ions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377415301128
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:163:y:2016:i:c:p:180-189

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2015.09.020

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().