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Night-time sap flow is parabolically linked to midday water potential for field-grown almond trees

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Abstract

To quantify night-time (S n) and diurnal (S d) tree water uptake, two sets of sap flow sensors (heat-pulse compensated) were installed per tree in the north-east and south-west sides of the trunk in three trees per treatment. There were two treatments: (1) control, irrigated with 100 % ETc (T100), and (2) deficit, irrigated at 60 % ETc (T60) with daily irrigations at the peak atmospheric demand (December–January). Normalised S n by trees was in the range of 15–25 % throughout the season, compared to normalised S d, for T100 and T60, respectively. Furthermore, S n was parabolically correlated to plant water status from the previous day, measured as midday stem water potential. We also found strong correlations between S n and nocturnal vapour pressure deficit for T100 and T60, indicating that nocturnal transpiration was significant for both treatments. Differences in S n were observed for the NE and SW sensors for T60, being significantly less for the NE side (sunny side) compared to the SW side (more shaded). No differences were observed for T100 regarding probe positioning.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Almond Board of Australia, Berri, South Australia, for funding the project on “Minimising environmental foot prints from irrigated almonds by using new method and tools” of which the sap flow studies reported here were a part. We would also like to acknowledge Ben Brown and Brett Rosenzweig from the Almond Board of Australia for all their support and assistance for the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne School of Land and Environment, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    S. Fuentes, M. Bonada & J. W. Cox

  2. South Australian Research and Development Institute, GPO Box 397, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    M. Mahadevan

  3. Estación Experimental Mendoza, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), San Martin 3853 (5507), Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

    M. Bonada

  4. Loxton Research Centre, South Australian Research and Development Institute, PO Box 411, Loxton, SA, 5333, Australia

    M. A. Skewes

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  1. S. Fuentes
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  4. M. A. Skewes
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  5. J. W. Cox
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Correspondence to S. Fuentes.

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Communicated by I. Dodd.

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Fuentes, S., Mahadevan, M., Bonada, M. et al. Night-time sap flow is parabolically linked to midday water potential for field-grown almond trees. Irrig Sci 31, 1265–1276 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-013-0403-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-013-0403-3

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