Short-term response of the nitrogen nutrition status of tall fescue and Italian ryegrass swards under water deficit

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Gonzalez-Dugo ◽  
Jean-Louis Durand ◽  
François Gastal ◽  
Catherine Picon-Cochard

Grasslands are rarely irrigated, thus water deficits often induce a reduction of the nitrogen nutrition index (NNI) during summer. This is measured using the ratio between the actual N concentration and the minimum N concentration required to achieve the maximum growth rate. NNI is derived from the standing biomass by a simple relationship. This paper details the results of a field experiment, combining 2 levels of irrigation with 2 levels of nitrogen fertilisation during the summer, on 2 commonly cultivated grass species in pure swards (tall fescue, Festuca arundinacea L., and Italian ryegrass, Lolium multiflorum). Plant water status, NNI, root length density (RLD), soil volumetric water content (θv), and mineral nitrogen concentration [N] were followed under water deficit and recovery. In both species, RLD was high (>6 cm/cm3) in the 0–0.25 m soil layer. Whereas the NNI of tall fescue responded strongly to its water status, Italian ryegrass was most often above optimal nitrogen nutrition because of its slow growth in that particular season and its higher superficial RLD. However, its NNI generally followed the θv closely, whereas tall fescue exhibited a delay in response of NNI upon rewatering, suggesting lasting effects of water deficits on the absorption capacity of roots in that species.

1979 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Garwood ◽  
K. C. Tyson ◽  
J. Sinclair

SUMMARYThe yield and quality of herbage produced by six grasses (perennial ryegrass, cocksfoot, timothy, rough-stalked meadow grass, tall fescue and Italian ryegrass) were examined both without irrigation and under two irrigation regimes. Water was applied according to the potential soil water deficit (potential SWD): the soil was either partially returned to field capacity (FC) after each cut or fully returned to FC whenever the potential SWD reached 25 mm. The swards were cut either at 3 (C3) or 6 (C6) week intervals over a 2 year period.Partial irrigation increased yields by 12–14% in the first year and by 36–58% in the second. Full irrigation produced little more growth than partial irrigation in the first year (maximum SWD, 188 mm) but increased yield by 78–93% in the second, very dry, year (maximum SWD, 311 mm). Under treatment C3 response per unit of water applied was similar with both partial and full irrigation, but under C6 the response was greater with partial (2·86 kg D.M./m3) than with full irrigation (1·79 kg D.M./m3).There were marked differences between the species in their ability to grow under drought conditions in the second year of the experiment. Without irrigation, roughstalked meadow grass and Italian ryegrass did not survive the drought. The performance of tall fescue was markedly superior to both perennial ryegrass and cocksfoot in these conditions. Of the surviving grasses timothy made least growth.


OENO One ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Xavier Choné ◽  
Olivier Trégoat ◽  
Cornelis Van Leeuwen ◽  
Denis Dubourdieu

<p style="text-align: justify;">Vine water status is an important factor in grape quality. High tannin and anthocyanin content in red grape berries are related to moderate vine water deficits. Hence, a simple and sensitive indicator is required to determine vine water status and especially water constraint. Pressure chamber allows a quick and easy to practice determination of water status in the vineyard. Three applications of pressure chamber are known: predawn leaf water potential (ΨB), leaf water potential (ΨF) and stem water potential (ΨT). Only ΨB and ΨF are widely used on vines. In this survey ΨB, ΨF, ΨT and transpiration flow were measured on mature leaves to determine non-irrigated vine water status in field grown vines during the growing season. In California as well as in France, stem Ψ was the most discriminating indicator for both moderate and severe water deficits. In every plot surveyed ΨT was much better correlated to leaf transpiration than ΨF. Moreover, ΨT revealed nascent water deficit earlier than ΨB did. Among the three application of pressure chamber, ΨT was the only one to indicate short term water deficit after a rainfall. Hence, ΨT appears to be a useful indicator for grapevine management in both non-irrigated and irrigated vineyards.</p>


1996 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wilman ◽  
Y. Gao

SUMMARYFour grass species, three hybrids and three mixtures were grown in field swards near Aberystwyth. All swards were amply supplied with nutrients and were cut at 5-week intervals during the year of sowing (1989) and during the following 4 years. The order of the grasses in rate of establishment was: Westerwolds ryegrass > Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) > Italian ryegrass × perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass × meadow fescue, perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) > perennial ryegrass × meadow fescue, meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) > tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). During the sowing year as a whole, Italian ryegrass was the highest yielding grass, followed by Westerwolds ryegrass. During the remaining period (1990–93), as a whole, the highest yields were obtained from perennial ryegrass sown alone or in a mixture with tall fescue. Tall fescue sown alone was one of the lowest yielding grasses in the year of sowing, but developed to be the highest yielding in 1992 and 1993. Westerwolds ryegrass persisted least well, although some plants did survive until 1992. Italian ryegrass persisted better than Westerwolds and Italian ryegrass × meadow fescue persisted better than Italian ryegrass. Hybrid ryegrass and perennial ryegrass × meadow fescue persisted satisfactorily but with fewer tillers/m2 than perennial ryegrass or tall fescue. The yield of tall fescue in March was as high as that of Italian ryegrass in 1990 and 1991 and higher than that of any of the other grasses in 1992 and 1993; the tiller density of tall fescue was particularly high in March. The yield of mixtures (Italian ryegrass with perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass with tall fescue and perennial ryegrass with tall fescue) was, on average, 2·5% more than the mean of the component species when sown alone. When grown with ryegrass, tall fescue was not prominent initially but its proportion in the sward gradually increased.


1980 ◽  
Vol 20 (106) ◽  
pp. 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
BG Sutton ◽  
EA Dubbelde

The yield response of two commercial bread wheat cultivars and one triticale to water deficits imposed before anthesis, after anthesis, or during the complete life cycle was studied in a large bin (55l) experiment under rain shelters at Camden, New South Wales. Water status was managed by weekly water replacement to allow withdrawal to 25 and 0% remaining available soil water for the well-watered and deficient treatments, respectively. The three cereals performed similarly under continuously well-watered conditions (89.9, 91.1, and 100.7 g grain/bin) but under continuous water deficit the triticale produced significantly less than the bread wheats (31.2 cf 53.1 g grain/bin), respectively. The reason for this was the greatly reduced yield per plant from tillers in the triticale. Efficiency of water use over the complete life cycle for grain production was greater for the wheats than for the triticale (1.351 cf 0.954 g l-1, respectively), and maximum efficiency resulted from provision of adequate water before anthesis (an average of 1.310 g l-1 for treatments well watered before anthesis, cf an average of 1.130 g l-1 for those growing under water deficits). Post-anthesis water status had no significant effect on these values.


1983 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 629-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. G. Owen ◽  
D. Wilman

SUMMARYOne hundred and forty different varieties of grass, from seven species, were harvested in spring, in 1, 2 or 3 years, at a D-value of 67 and dried at 25 °C. Moisture content was determined every 3 h for at least the first 48 h and less frequently thereafter until the grass was about dry enough to store as hay.Rate of drying was in the order tall fescue > Italian ryegrass = meadow fescue > timothy = cocksfoot > perennial and hybrid ryegrass. The perennial and hybrid ryegrass took twice as long to dry as did tall fescue. Tetraploid varieties of the ryegrasses took appreciably longer to dry than the diploid varieties. Apart from this there were some differences between varieties within a species in rate of drying. Differences in moisture content at cutting, in the proportion of leaf blade and in the number of leaf sheaths per ‘stem’ may have accounted for some of the differences between species and varieties in rate of drying. Further research is suggested.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (31) ◽  
pp. 8861-8866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Sebastian ◽  
Muh-Ching Yee ◽  
Willian Goudinho Viana ◽  
Rubén Rellán-Álvarez ◽  
Max Feldman ◽  
...  

Many important crops are members of the Poaceae family, which develop root systems characterized by a high degree of root initiation from the belowground basal nodes of the shoot, termed the crown. Although this postembryonic shoot-borne root system represents the major conduit for water uptake, little is known about the effect of water availability on its development. Here we demonstrate that in the model C4 grass Setaria viridis, the crown locally senses water availability and suppresses postemergence crown root growth under a water deficit. This response was observed in field and growth room environments and in all grass species tested. Luminescence-based imaging of root systems grown in soil-like media revealed a shift in root growth from crown-derived to primary root-derived branches, suggesting that primary root-dominated architecture can be induced in S. viridis under certain stress conditions. Crown roots of Zea mays and Setaria italica, domesticated relatives of teosinte and S. viridis, respectively, show reduced sensitivity to water deficit, suggesting that this response might have been influenced by human selection. Enhanced water status of maize mutants lacking crown roots suggests that under a water deficit, stronger suppression of crown roots actually may benefit crop productivity.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Lawson ◽  
K. B. Kelly

A field experiment was established in northern Victoria in the autumn of 1999 to quantify the effects of renovating a 15-year-old, irrigated perennial pasture with a high paspalum content. The treatments were: (i) control, the existing pasture; (ii) oversown, the existing pasture grazed, topped and direct drilled; and (iii) resown, the existing pasture sprayed, cultivated and a new pasture sown. The grass species used in both renovation treatments were perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass and tall fescue. The treatments were grazed by dairy cows. The botanical composition, tiller density and plant frequency are reported in this paper. Oversowing with either perennial or Italian ryegrass increased the sown grass content by an average of 4–8% DM, and by up to 20% DM during winter and spring, but did not affect the average white clover, volunteer species or dead contents. Oversowing did not affect the sown grass or paspalum tiller densities but annual oversowing with either perennial or Italian ryegrass increased the ryegrass plant frequency and, in 2 of the 4 years, reduced the white clover growing point density. Resowing increased (P < 0.05) the content of sown grasses (by 12% DM for perennial ryegrass and by 20% DM for tall fescue) and white clover (by 8% DM) and decreased (P < 0.05) the content of volunteer species (by 18% DM) and, in years 1 and 2, dead material. The plant frequency of tall fescue increased over time (from 75 to 83% of quadrats), whereas that of perennial ryegrass declined (from 87 to 72% of quadrats). This resulted in the resown tall fescue having a lower (P < 0.05) white clover content and growing point density in years 3 and 4, and a tendency for a lower volunteer species content and tiller density in year 4, than the resown perennial ryegrass. Tall fescue is thus better able to resist the invasion of summer-active species and is less likely to require either oversowing or resowing than perennial ryegrass-based pastures. These results suggest that tall fescue should be considered as an alternative to perennial ryegrass when sowing pastures. The use of nitrogen did not improve the sown grass content, tiller density or plant frequency and will not therefore overcome problems resulting from a low ryegrass content.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conesa ◽  
Conejero ◽  
Vera ◽  
Ramírez-Cuesta ◽  
Ruiz-Sánchez

Monitoring plant water status is relevant for the sustainable management ofirrigation under water deficit conditions. Two treatments were applied to an early-maturingnectarine orchard: control (well irrigated) and precise deficit irrigation (PDI, based on soilwater content thresholds). Moderate water deficits generated by PDI were assessed bycomparing terrestrial: stem water potential (Ψstem) and gas exchange parameters, with remote:canopy temperature, normalized difference vegetation (NDVI), and soil adjusted vegetationindex (SAVI), plant water status indicators. The Ψstem was the only indicator that showedsignificant differences between treatments. NDVI and SAVI at the postharvest period wereappropriate indexes for estimating winter pruning, although they did not serve well as plantstress indicator. Vapor pressure deficit along with Ψstem values were able to predict remotesensing data. Ψstem and canopy to air temperature difference values registered the highestsignal intensity and NDVI the highest sensitivity for detecting water deficit situations. Theresults suggest that care should be taken when using instantaneous remote indicators toevaluate moderate water deficits in deciduous fruit trees; more severe/longer water stressconditions are probably needed. The proposed PDI strategy promoted water saving whilemaintaining yield, and could be considered a promising tool for semi-arid agrosystems.


2009 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Louis Durand ◽  
Victoria Gonzalez-Dugo ◽  
François Gastal

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