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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The effects of different soil management
practices and irrigation on plant water relations,
physiological response and productivity of chestnut
stands in Northeastern Portugal were assessed during
four growing seasons (2003 to 2006). Treatments
were: conventional soil tillage up to 15–20 cm depth
with a tine cultivator thrice a year (CT); no tillage
with spontaneous herbaceous vegetation (NV); no tillage with rainfed seeded pasture (NP); and no
tillage with irrigated seeded pasture (NIP). Results
suggest that soil water availability was the most
critical parameter for chestnut productivity over the
study period. In all treatments, high predawn leaf
water potentials (-0.40 to -0.55 MPa) were observed
during the dry seasons of 2003, 2004 and 2006,
showing no critical conditions for plant productivity,
which is ascribed to water availability in deep soil
layers. In contrast, in 2005, an extremely dry year,
water potentials decreased and varied from -1.46 to -
1.72 MPa in late summer, showing unfavourable
conditions for nut production. Maintenance of spontaneous
herbaceous vegetation without irrigation
enhanced productivity of chestnut stands as compared
with the conventional tillage system and the no tillage
system with seeded pasture. Productivity in the soil
watering system (NIP treatment) was not significantly
different from that observed in the NV treatment.
Therefore, studies on the irrigation strategy should be
developed, in order to increase its efficiency especially
in stands with young trees
Description
Keywords
agroforestry systems Castanea sativa crop tree irrigation soil and plant water relations soil tillage soil water depletion
Pedagogical Context
Citation
"Plant Soil". ISSN 0032-079x. 327 (2010) 57-70
Publisher
Springer