Prosopis alba (mesquite) in 27-liter containers, either infected or noninfected with the VAM fungi, Glomus intraradix Schenk & Smith, during the container production phase were transplanted into a simulated landscape and irrigated at regular intervals or nonirrigated (irrigated only once at transplanting time). Mesquite shoot extension (SE), trunk diameter, rooting density (RD), specific root length density (SRLD), and VAM colonization levels were measured at 6 months and 1 year after transplanting. At 6 months, VAM colonization was observed only in the roots of inoculated mesquite, but by 12 months, roots of inoculated and noninoculated mesquite were colonized by VAM fungi. There were higher levels of VAM colonization in roots of irrigated mesquite (23%) in comparison to nonirrigated mesquite (5%). Irrigation promoted SE and VAM inoculation inhibited SE of nonirrigated trees. Trunk diameter was greater for irrigated trees than for nonirrigated trees and was not affected by VAM fungal treatment. At 6 months after transplanting, VAM fungal and irrigation treatments interacted to affect mesquite RD and SRLD. For irrigated mesquite, RD and SRLD were highest for VAM-inoculated mesquite, whereas for nonirrigated trees, RD and SRLD were highest for noninoculated trees. At 12 months after transplanting, mesquite RD and SRLD were higher for irrigated than for nonirrigated trees and were not affected by previous VAM inoculation.
Effects of VAM fungal inoculum, Glomus intraradices Schenk & Smith, on the growth of Chilean mesquite in containers were investigated as part of a nursery container system for production of xeric trees. Seedling liners of Chilean mesquite were transplanted into 27-liter containers filled with a 3 pine bark : 1 peat moss : 1 sand medium. Before transplanting, 50% of the trees were band-inoculated at a depth of 8 to 12 cm below the growth medium surface with 35 g per container of Glomus intradices (Nutrilink, NPI, Salt Lake City, UT), approximately 1,000 spores g-1. All trees were top-dressed with 15 g Osmocote 18N-2.6P-9.9K (Grace-Sierra, Milpitas, CA) and 3 g Micromax (Grace-Sierra, Milpitas, CA) fertilizers and grown in a fiberglass greenhouse under 50% light exclusion. After 4 months, all inoculated tree root systems were colonized, and the percent infection was 47%. Noninoculated trees remained nonmycorrhizal. There were no differences in height, total shoot length, shoot dry weight, or root dry weight between inoculated and non-inoculated trees; however, total root length and specific root length of inoculated trees were less than those of noninoculated trees. These results suggest that the VAM fungi altered the root architecture of inoculated trees such that root systems of these trees had thicker roots with fewer fine roots elongating into the growth medium profile.
Although water conservation programs in the arid southwestern United States have prompted prudent landscaping practices such as planting low water use trees, there is little data on the actual water use of most species. The purpose of this study was to determine the actual water use of two common landscape tree species in Tucson, Ariz., and water use coefficients for two tree species based on the crop coefficient concept. Water use of oak (Quercus virginiana `Heritage') and mesquite (Prosopis alba `Colorado') trees in containers was measured from July to October 1991 using a precision balance. Water-use coefficients for each tree species were calculated as the ratio of measured water use per total leaf area or per projected canopy area to reference evapotranspiration obtained from a modified FAO Penman equation. After accounting for tree growth, water-use coefficients on a total leaf area basis were 0.5 and 1.0 for oak and mesquite, respectively, and on a projected canopy area basis were 1.4 and 1.6 for oaks and mesquites, respectively. These coefficients indicate that mesquites (normally considered xeric trees) use more water than oaks (normally considered mesic trees) under nonlimiting conditions.
Evergreen elm (Ulmus parvifolia), southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), and South American mesquite (Prosopis alba) were irrigated at 75%, 50%, and 33% of reference evapotranspiration for 2 years in Phoenix, Ariz. Each tree was irrigated with twenty-nine 3.8-L·h–1 drip emitters to a depth of 90 cm. Initial trunk diameters were about 4 cm. Water use was monitored by heat balance sap flow gauges and related to canopy volume, projected canopy area, and total leaf area. Oak used more water than elm, and elm more than mesquite under all irrigation regimes. Irrigation regimes had a greater effect on oak and elm water use than on mesquite, but all trees maintained an acceptable canopy regardless of treatment.
Evergreen elm (Ulmus parvifolia), southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), and South American mesquite (Prosopis alba) were irrigated at 75%, 50%, and 33% of reference evapotranspiration for 2 years in Phoenix, Arizona. Each tree was irrigated with twenty-nine 3.8-L·h–1 drip emitters to a depth of 90 cm. Initial trunk diameters were about 4 cm. Water use was monitored by heat balance sap flow gauges and related to canopy volume, projected canopy area, and total leaf area. Oak used more water than elm, and elm more than mesquite under all irrigation regimes. Irrigation regimes had a greater effect on oak and elm water use than on mesquite, but all trees maintained an acceptable canopy regardless of treatment.
We compared transpiration estimates of three common desert landscape tree species using stem-flow gauges and lysimetry. Argentine mesquite (Prosopis alba Grisebach), desert willow [Chilopsis linearis (cav.) Sweet var. linearis], and southern live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill., seedling selection) were subjected to three irrigation regimes. Leaching fractions of +0.25, 0.00, and -0.25 were imposed for 2 years. During the summer of the second year, we conducted a comparative transpiration study. Trees growing in 190-liter plastic containers had a highly linear correlation (r = 0.98, P = 0.001) between transpiration estimated by stem-flow gauges and lysimetry. An average 18% error was measured between paired data (total runs of 14 to 72.5 hours) of stem-flow gauge and lysimetry transpiration estimates. However, a lower error was correlated significantly with longer run times (r = -0.37, P = 0.05). Based on field measurements taken in this experiment, run times would have to be >68 hours to maintain an associated error below 10%. Higher cumulative transpiration also was associated with longer run times (r = 0.80, P = 0.001). These results suggest that the stem-flow gauge can be used to estimate transpiration accurately to schedule irrigation for woody ornamental trees in an arid environment, provided that irrigation predictions are not based on short-term stem-flow gauge estimates (<68 hours).
Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), and South American mesquite (Prosopis alba) were planted in a shallow soil (≈15 cm deep) underlain by indurated calcium carbonate in Tucson, Ariz. Oaks were planted in three hole sizes, with backfill amended or unamended with undigested wood material and with or without 9 cm of an organic surface mulch. The surface mulch was a blend of undigested wood material and yard waste compost. Initial oak trunk diameters were ≈2 cm. Mesquites were planted according to these treatments: 1) a hole 150 cm square with amended backfill, 2) a hole twice as wide and 30 cm deeper than the root ball with amended backfill, and 3) a hole five times as wide and no deeper than the root ball with unamended backfill. Initial mesquite trunk diameters were ≈4 cm. Sixteen (oaks) and 28 (mesquites) months after planting soil was removed from the planting holes by a sewage vacuum truck. We will report the effect of treatments on trunk and canopy growth, and root growth from the side and beneath the original root ball.
A 2-year study was conducted to quantify the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) of three woody ornamental trees placed under three different leaching fractions (LFs). Argentine mesquite (Prosopis alba Grisebach), desert willow [Chilopsis linearis (Cav.) Sweet var. linearis], and southern live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill.) (nursery seedling selection) were planted as 3.8-, 18.9-, or 56.8-liter container nursery stock outdoors in 190-liter plastic lysimeters in which weekly hydrologic balances were maintained. Weekly storage changes were measured with a portable hoist-load cell apparatus. Irrigations were applied to maintain LFs of +0.25, 0.00, or -0.25 (theoretical) based on the equation irrigation (I) = ETa/(1 - LF). Tree height, trunk diameter, canopy volume, leaf area index, total leaf area (oak only) and dry weight were monitored during the experiment or measured at final harvest. Average yearly ETa was significantly influenced by planting size (oak and willow, P ≤ 0.001) and leaching fraction imposed (P ≤ 0.001). Multiple regressions accounting for the variability in average yearly ETa were comprised of different growth and water management variables depending on the species. LF, trunk diameter, and canopy volume accounted for 92% (P ≤ 0.001) of the variability in the average yearly ETa of oak. Monthly ETa data were also evaluated, with multiple regressions based on data from nonwater-deficit trees, such that LF could be ignored. In the case of desert willow, monthly potential ET and trunk diameter accounted for 88% (P ≤ 0.001) of the variability in the monthly ETa. Results suggest that irrigators could apply water to arid urban landscapes more efficiently if irrigations were scheduled based on such information.
Plant Soil 285 279 287 Scambato, A.A. EcheverrÃa, M. Sansberro, P. Ruiz, O.A. Menéndez, A.B. 2010 Glomus intraradices improved salt tolerance in Prosopis alba seedlings by improving water use efficiency and shoot water content Braz. J. Plant Physiol
of two cultivars of redbud [ Cercis sp. ( Fox et al., 2014 )]. Tree water use under conditions that do not limit the amount of irrigation water trees receive showed that trees considered xeric-adapted, such as south american mesquite ( Prosopis alba