Abstract
Plant stems show reversible diurnal fluctuation and irreversible growth, both related to plant water status. The reversible stem diameter shrinkage and swelling are caused by a depletion and refilling of the plant’s internal water storage pools, while irreversible growth occurs when turgor pressure exceeds a certain threshold value. For this reason, stem diameter measurements provide a useful tool to assess plant water status. In this study, the use of continuous stem diameter measurements to detect atmospheric and soil drought stress in Ficus benjamina L. was explored by assessing the deviation between measured and simulated stem diameter variations using a mechanistic stem diameter model with moving window calibration. Sap flow, either directly measured or simulated with measurements of the microclimate, was used as input to the model. Both atmospheric stress by a high vapor pressure deficit and drought stress by a reduced soil water content were detected, with the latter 2 to 3 days earlier than detection based on maximum daily shrinkage and daily growth. Therefore, comparing stem diameter measurements with model simulations shows great potential for irrigation scheduling in horticulture.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank VLAIO (Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship) for granting funding for the Sense-IT LA-project (IWT140961) to Kathy Steppe, which supported the PhD of Hans Van de Put. The authors are also grateful to Philip Deman, Geert Favyts and Erik Moerman of the UGent Laboratory of Plant Ecology for their technical support, Bert Schamp of the Ornamental Plant Research Center (PCS) for his practical support during the experiments and Dr. Olivier Leroux of the UGent Department of Biology for the preparation of the microscopic cross-section.
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KS and HVdP conceptualized and designed the experiments. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by HVdP. HVdP and KS interpreted the data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HVdP. Writing and editing was performed by KS and HVdP. KS acquired the funding.
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271_2021_757_MOESM1_ESM.tiff
Fig. S1 Microclimate of the soil drought stress experiment: photosynthetic active radiation (PAR; A), air temperature (Ta; B), relative humidity (RH; C), vapor pressure deficit (VPD; D) and atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca; E) (TIFF 46191 KB)
271_2021_757_MOESM2_ESM.tiff
Fig. S2 Microclimate of atmospheric stress experiment: photosynthetic active radiation (PAR; A), air temperature (Ta; B), relative humidity (RH; C), vapor pressure deficit (VPD; D) and atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca; E) (TIFF 46191 KB)
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Van de Put, H., Steppe, K. Automated detection of atmospheric and soil drought stress in Ficus benjamina using stem diameter measurements and modelling. Irrig Sci 40, 29–43 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-021-00757-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-021-00757-9