The relationship between soil water availability, root extension, and shoot growth of lohlolly pine seedlings (Pinus taedu L.) was evaluated in a rhizotron sand mixture in the absence and presence of crabgrass (Digitaria spp.) competition. Heights and diameters of seedlings grown with crabgrass were reduced 33 and SO%, respectively, compared with seedlings grown in pine monoculture. Furthermore...

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the non-protein amino acid, β-aminobutyric acid (BABA), on the homeostasis between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant defence during progressive soil drying, and its relationship with the accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA), water use, grain yield, and desiccation tolerance in two spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar...

This review summarizes the research on physiological responses to flooding of trees in the seasonal black-water wetland of the Mapire River in Venezuela. Inter-annual variability was found during 8 years of sampling, in spite of which a general picture emerged of increased stomatal conductance (gs) and photosynthetic rate (PN) during the flooded period to values as high as or higher than in pla...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) proliferate in soils and are known to affect soil structure. Although their contribution to structure is extensively investigated, the consequences of those processes for soil water extractability and transport has, so far, gained surprisingly little attention. Therefore we asked, whether AMF can affect water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity un...

Soil water stress has paramount effects on water uptake by roots and its use by shoots. In this study, we determined changes in root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr) and morphology under drought stress and how they regulate shoot gas exchange and water use efficiency in alfalfa and sorghum, two crops with contrasting adaptations to drought, the former exhibiting strong drought avoidance and the lat...

The objective of this study was to elevate water deficit tolerance by improving soluble sugar and free proline accumulation, photosynthetic pigment stabilization, photosynthetic abilities, growth performance and storage root yield in sweet potato cv. 'Tainung 57' using a foliar application of paclobutrazol (PBZ). The experiment followed a Completely Randomized Block Design with four concentrati...

Effects of water stress and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycoperseci (Fol) on the growth of tomatoes were studied in a greenhouse experiment. Treatments consisted of five levels of water stress (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 day irrigation intervals). Infested soil consisting of 400 chlamydospores g1 of Fol and non infested soil were used. Experiments arranged in a completely randomized design with 8 replicati...

The resistances to liquid water transport in the soil and plant were determined directly and simultaneously from measurements of soil, root, and leaf water potentials and the flux of water through the soil-plant system to the sites of evaporation in the leaf. For soybean (Merr.) transporting water at a steady rate, water potential differences between soil and root were smaller than between root...