ISHS Acta Horticulturae 278: Symposium on Scheduling of Irrigation for Vegetable Crops under Field Condition
COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF SALINITY AND MOISTURE STRESS ON GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF CARROTS |
| Authors: | U. Schmidhalter, J.J. Oertli |
| Abstract:
Water stress and salt stress can greatly affect germination and early seedling growth. In this study, we examined the effects of saline and non-saline moisture stress on germination and seedling growth of carrots. Germination and seedling growth were differently affected at comparable levels of matric and osmotic moisture stress. Germination and seedling growth were not affected by osmotic potentials as low as -0.5 MPa. Germination and seedling shoot and root growth decreased markedly at matric potentials higher than -0.01 MPa. Matric potentials lower than -0.2 MPa decreased germination percentage and delayed germination rate. A moderate water stress caused a gradual decrease of shoot fresh weight and a marked increase in root growth. Therefore, germination and seedling growth have to be rather related to the individual soil water potential components than to the total soil water potential. | |
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