Tomato Root Distribution under Drip Irrigation: Tunisia

2003 ◽  
Vol 255 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui M.A. Machado ◽  
Maria do Rosário ◽  
G. Oliveira ◽  
Carlos A. M. Portas

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pingfeng Li ◽  
Huang Tan ◽  
Jiahang Wang ◽  
Xiaoqing Cao ◽  
Peiling Yang

Although water-saving measures are increasingly being adopted in orchards, little is known about how different irrigation methods enhance water use efficiency at the root system level. To study the allocation of water sources of water absorption by cherry roots under two irrigation methods, surface irrigation and drip irrigation, oxygen isotope tracing and root excavation were used in this study. We found that different irrigation methods have different effects on the average δ18O content of soil water in the soil profile. The IsoSource model was applied to calculate the contribution rate of water absorption by cherry roots under these irrigation methods. During the drought period in spring (also a key period of water consumption for cherry trees), irrigation water was the main source of water absorbed by cherry roots. In summer, cherry roots exhibited a wide range of water absorption sources. In this case, relative to the surface irrigation mode, the drip irrigation mode demonstrated higher irrigation water use efficiency. After two years of the above experiment, root excavation was used to analyze the effects of these irrigation methods on the distribution pattern of roots. We found that root distribution is mainly affected by soil depth. The root system indexes in 10–30 cm soil layer differ significantly from those in other soil layers. Drip irrigation increased the root length density (RLD) and root surface area (RSA) in the shallow soil. There was no significant difference in root biomass density (RBD) and root volume ratio (RVR) between the two irrigation treatments. The effects of these irrigation methods on the 2D distribution of cherry RBD, RLD, RSA and RVR, which indicated that the cherry roots were mainly concentrated in the horizontal depths of 20 to 100 cm, which was related to the irrigation wet zone. In the current experiment, more than 85% of cherry roots were distributed in the space with horizontal radius of 0 to 100 cm and vertical depth of 0 to 80 cm; above 95% of cherry roots were distributed in the space with the horizontal radius of 0 to 150 cm and the vertical depth of 0 to 80 cm. Compared with surface irrigation, drip irrigation makes RLD and RSA more concentrated in the horizontal range of 30–100 cm and vertical range of 0–70 cm.


1951 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 118 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Spencer

The root distribution of mature tomato plants in a sandy loam soil under furrow irrigation was studied by measuring the lengths of roots washed from soil samples. Nearly 76 per cent. of the roots measured were found in the top 40 cm. of soil, but appreciable amounts of roots were found in the deepest samples (90-100 cm.). There were more roots half-way between plants in the row than closer to the plant, which suggests that mature root systems overlap when plants are spaced 29 ft. apart in the row. Distribution was compared for plants which had received an application of superphosphate and those which had not. Added phosphorus greatly increased the total length of roots and slightly increased the median root depth without much change in the relative values for these two measures between different lateral positions. In addition, there was some evidence for a local concentration of roots around the band of superphosphate. The relevance of the findings to cultivation and fertilizer practices in tomato culture is briefly discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Min ◽  
Huijuan Guo ◽  
Guangwei Zhou ◽  
Wen Zhang ◽  
Lijuan Ma ◽  
...  

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Phene ◽  
K.R. Davis ◽  
R.B. Hutmacher ◽  
B. Bar-Yosef ◽  
D.W. Meek ◽  
...  

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