Abstract

AVILA-FLORES, Israel J. et al. Preconditioning Pinus engelmannii Carr. seedlings by irrigation deficit in nursery. Rev. Chapingo ser. cienc. for. ambient [online]. 2014, vol.20, n.3, pp.237-245. ISSN 2007-4018.  https://doi.org/10.5154/r.rchscfa.2014.02.004.

Three irrigation periods (every 48, 96 and 192 hours) were evaluated with the purpose of improving the preconditioning Pinus engelmannii Carr. seedlings in nursery. Eight months old seedlings were evaluated for 40 days. The study was conducted under greenhouse conditions at the nursery of the Experimental Station Valle del Guadiana of INIFAP. The data were analyzed with a permutations test. The results show that irrigation every 48 h caused the best effects in height (7.70 cm), diameter (4.38 mm), total biomass (6.59 g) and Dickson's quality index (0.55). In contrast, water stress caused by treatment with irrigation every 192 h (-1.22 MPa) limited the growth of seedlings; however, the lignification index (26.63) was significantly better (P = 0.0001) with this frequency of irrigation. Despite having significant differences (P = 0.0001) in the hydric potential and morphological variables, there was not sufficient evidence to define an absolutely superior treatment to improve the preconditioning of seedlings in the nursery. Therefore, it is advisable to evaluate these treatments for a longer time; moreover, it is suggested to evaluate the same treatments in the plantation field.

Keywords : Hydric potential; plant quality; water stress; lignification.

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