Abstract
Fruit from 7- and 8-year-old ‘Tifblue’ rabbiteye blueberry [Vaccinium ashei (Reade)] plants were harvested at 0600, 0900, 1200, and 1500 hr. Harvests occurred twice a season for each of 2 years. Fruit cullage after machine harvesting averaged ≈30% of total fruit harvested. The first machine harvest in a season had 6% to 16% less cullage than the last harvest. The number of mature fruit remaining on the plants after harvesting decreased with later harvest times during the day. Thus, an increase in harvester efficiency corresponded to decreased leaf water potential. The effect of harvest time during the day on packout and fruit quality after storage was inconsistent between and within years. There was no optimum time of day to machine-pick blueberries when fruit were promptly sorted and cooled after harvest.
Abstract
Leafy cuttings of Rhododendron catawbiense Michx. ‘Roseum Elegans’ were rooted under 0%, 55%, or 95% shade in a greenhouse. Compared to the low-light treatment, higher light induced high photosynthetic rates, high sucrose and starch levels, and low leaf water potential, but these differences only persisted for the initial part of the 23-week rooting period and did not influence subsequent rooting percentage. However, in cuttings receiving 95% shade, dry weights of leaves and stems and rootball size were relatively small after 23 weeks, suggesting that growth was reduced by lack of photosynthate. The reduced size of cuttings rooted under 95% shade apparently did not affect vigor because the size of the above-ground portion of all plants was equal after 2 months of growth in a greenhouse.
Abstract
Single stem Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. cv. Eckespoint C-1 Red were exposed to single or repeated episodes of drought stress to leaf water potentials of −1.0 or −1.3 MPa at different times during crop development. Decreased plant height and delayed flowering generally were caused by treatments including stress prior to time of initial bract coloration. Plant quality was reduced by those treatments that inhibited bract development and caused leaf abscission. Inflorescence diameter was reduced the most by stress after bract coloration. Bract dry weight was sensitive to stress and was reduced by stress between the time of initiating long nights and bract coloration. Leaf abscission resulted from a single exposure to −1.3 MPa after flower initiation. Stress prior to start of long nights had little effect on plant development.
Abstract
The effects of water stress on internal water potential components and specific physiological processes were investigated in field grown potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Viking). Leaf water potential (ψ leaf) as estimated by the pressure chamber, was not directly related to soil water potential (ψ soil) until a specific minimum ψ soil was attained. Subsequently ψ leaf did not increase in response to increases in ψ soil. Water stress affected physiological processes such as stomatal resistance, photosynthesis and enzyme activity. A decline in ψ leaf was apparently responsible for increased stomatal resistance and decreases in photosynthetic rates. The activities of ribulose diphosphate carboxylase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase decreased as ψ leaf declined. The relationship between water stress and physiological processes and the inability of ψ leaf to respond to increases in ψ soil after a maximum stress may partially explain the extreme sensitivity of potatoes to even mild water stress.
Abstract
Translocation of l4C-sucrose from leaf to fruit was measured in ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Staymared’ apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) and ‘Redhaven’ peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) following the application of compounds reported to influence fruitlet abscission. Succinic acid-2,2-dimethylhydrazide (daminozide) reduced 14C translocation in both apple cultivars but reduced fruit set only in ‘Golden Delicious’. Ethephon reduced 14C translocation and fruit set of peach. Abscisic acid (ABA) and 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) reduced 14C-sucrose translocation in apple. Enclosing apple limbs in black cloth bags reduced fruit set and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) increased leaf water potential. One method of preliminary screening of compounds for apple fruit thinning may be based on their effect on 14C-sucrose translocation from foliage to fruit.
A study was conducted to compare three measurements of determining water status of grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) in the field. Predawn leaf water potential (ΨPD), midday leaf water potential (Ψl), and midday stem water potential (Ψstem) were measured on `Chardonnay' and `Cabernet Sauvignon' grapevines grown in Napa Valley, California late in the 1999 growing season. Both cultivars had been irrigated weekly at various fractions (0, 0.5, and 1.0 for `Chardonnay' and 0, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.5 for `Cabernet') of estimated vineyard evapotranspiration (ETc) from approximately anthesis up to the dates of measurements. Predawn water potential measurements were taken beginning at 0330 hr and completed before sunrise. Midday Ψl and Ψstem measurements were taken only between 1230 and 1330 hr. In addition, net CO2 assimilation rates (A) and stomatal conductance to water vapor (gs) were also measured at midday. Soil water content (SWC) was measured in the `Chardonnay' vineyard using a neutron probe. Values obtained for ΨPD, Ψl, and Ψstem in this study ranged from about -0.05 to -0.8, -0.7 to -1.8, and -0.5 to -1.6 MPa, respectively. All three measurements of vine water status were highly correlated with one another. Linear regression analysis of Ψl and Ψstem versus ΨPD resulted in r 2 values of 0.88 and 0.85, respectively. A similar analysis of Ψl as a function of Ψstem resulted in an r2 of 0.92. In the `Chardonnay' vineyard, all three methods of estimating vine water status were significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with SWC and applied amounts of water. Lastly, ΨPD, Ψl, and Ψstem were all linearly correlated with measurements of A and gs at midday. Under the conditions of this study, ΨPD, Ψl, and Ψstem represent equally viable methods of assessing the water status of these grapevines. They were all correlated similarly with the amount of water in the soil profile and leaf gas exchange as well as with one another.
Balled in burlaped is a common method for moving large trees into landscapes and affects of transplanting on tree gas exchange and growth has been documented. Organic mulch provides many benefits and is often recommended for landscapes. Because little research has been conducted on affects organic mulch has on gas exchange and growth of transplanted and non-transplanted trees, this research investigated the effects transplanting and organic mulch have on gas exchange and growth of field grown red oak (Quercus shumardii) trees. In March 2003, 12 multi-trunked trees were selected from a tree farm near Lubbock, Texas, and six trees were dug using a tree spade and placed in their original location. Mulch at a depth of 10 cm was placed around the rootball of 3 transplanted and 3 nontransplanted trees and maintained at this depth the remainder of the experiment. Over the next three growing seasons predawn leaf water potential and midday stomatal conductance were measured on each tree every 1 to 3 weeks. At the end of every growing season shoot elongation, stem caliper and subsample leaf area were recorded. Our data indicates transplanting has a negative affect on gas exchange and growth of red oak. Each growing season gas exchange, shoot growth, and subsample leaf area were less for transplanted trees when compared to nontransplanted trees. Mulch also influenced gas exchange and growth of these trees. For nontransplanted trees with mulch, gas exchange and growth were reduced when compared to nonmulched, nontransplanted trees. For transplanted trees with mulch, predawn leaf water potential was less negative and subsample leaf area was greater when compared to transplanted trees with out mulch.
Abbreviations: EC, electrical conductivity; MSC, moisture stress conditioning; P L , leaf turgor potential; PV, pressure-volume; RWC, relative leaf water content; SWC, symplastic water content; ψ L , leaf water potential; π 100 , π 0 osmotic
Growth and water relations of seedlings grown in protective tree shelters were investigated during establishment in a field nursery. Shelters, 1.2 m high, were placed over 0.5 m Kentucky coffee tree seedlings following spring transplanting in a field experiment. Predawn leaf water potential (ψ) and stomatal conductance (gs) were monitored periodically through the season and growth was measured in late summer. In a second experiment diurnal microclimate, and seedling water relations and use, in the shelters were studied under controlled conditions. In the shelters, leaf and air temperature, humidity, and gs exceeded non-sheltered levels while solar radiation was 70% lower. Despite greater gs, normalized water use was 40% lower in the sheltered trees. While midday gs was similarly high in the field-grown trees, no differences in predawn ψ were detected through the season. Sheltered trees in the field had four times more shoot growth but 40% less caliper growth. Sheltered trees had leaf thickness lower than control trees, and together with the growth and radiation pattern, indicated that they were shade acclimated. Shelters can improve height growth and reduce water loss during establishment, but may not allow sufficient trunk development or taper for upright support
Limited root development of nursery stock in root-control bags facilitates harvest but without irrigation may predispose stock to water stress. The effect of bags and irrigation on growth and water relations of field-grown Malus sieboldii var. zumi were investigated following transplanting as large liners into a silty-clay soil. Predawn leaf water potential (ψ), and midday stomatal conductance (gs) and ψ, were measured periodically through the season. Late-season osmotic potential (ψπ), caliper, leaf area, and root growth were also measured. Non-irrigated treatments exhibited water stress during an extended mid-summer drought, as predawn ψ and particularly gs were less than irrigated treatments, resulting in lower vegetative growth and ψπ. For combined bagged treatments water relations did not differ, but leaf area, root growth, and ψπ, but not caliper, were less than non-bagged trees. Growth measurements and ψπ of non-irrigated bagged trees, however, were consistently lower but nonsignificant than the other treatments. Bag-induced root reduction can limit some top growth even with optimum soil water. Moreover, in terms of potential Type-II errors extrapolated over a conventional production cycle, trees grown in root-control bags in normally non-irrigated soils may be more susceptible to water stress and subjected to further cumulative growth limitation.