Short-term watering-distance and symmetry effects on root and shoot growth of bell pepper plantlets

Avraham Meiri, Boris Naftaliev, David Shmuel, Hana Yechezkel, Gregory Communar and Shmulik P. Friedman

Agricultural Water Management, 2011, vol. 98, issue 10, 1557-1568

Abstract: Drip lines were located at distances ranging from 0 to 60Â cm from one or both sides of a row of pepper plantlets, and we monitored the effects on their shoot development during 76 days from transplanting to full-size first fruits, on the final root system, and on the areal water and salt distributions in the upper 15-cm soil layer. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with a sandy soil, and excess fresh water (1.9Â LÂ d-1 per plant) was applied via short daily irrigations. In addition, the effects of watering distance and symmetry on the potential water uptake rate were analyzed with a coupled-source-sink steady flow and uptake model. Initial faster shoot growth with the one-side system and short distances progressively changed to faster growth with the two-side system and longer watering distances, with the optimum at 30-40Â cm. These temporal changes are attributed to temporal changes in the root uptake of irrigation water: small plants with small root systems benefit from the larger water supply to a smaller soil volume provided by the one-side system, whereas larger plants with greater water needs could extract more irrigation water when they developed larger, split root systems in the two-side irrigation. Balanced root systems and maximal shoot growth can be obtained by starting the irrigation with a line on each side, near the plants, and moving the lines after a short time.

Keywords: Drip; irrigation; Water; flow; and; uptake; modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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