Effect of Different Quality Irrigation Water on the Growth, Mineral Concentration and Physiological Parameters of Viburnum tinus Plants
Treated wastewater may be considered an alternative source of water and fertilizer nutrients for landscape plants. However, NaCl, the principal compound in this water, can be detrimental to plants. Viburnum tinus plants were submitted for 4 months to 4 irrigation treatments with water from different...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2015 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM) |
| Repositorio: | RIUCAM. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.ucam.edu:10952/7383 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10952/7383 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Stomatal conductance Photosynthesis Ornamental plants Salinity Water relations |
| Sumario: | Treated wastewater may be considered an alternative source of water and fertilizer nutrients for landscape plants. However, NaCl, the principal compound in this water, can be detrimental to plants. Viburnum tinus plants were submitted for 4 months to 4 irrigation treatments with water from different sources: control (Control) (EC < 0.9 dS m-1); NaCl solution (NaCl) (EC = 4 dS m-1); irrigation water normally used in the area (IW) (EC = 1.2-1.8 dS m-1) and reclaimed water (RW) (EC = 4 dS m-1). During a recovery period of two months, all the plants were irrigated with the control water. The results showed that biomass was affected in NaCl, IW and RW treatments, both leaf area and height decreased at the end of saline period. These changes were more pronounced in the NaCl treatment, which also caused a decrease in stem diameter and root/shoot ratio. The similar growth alterations founded after the recovery period showed that salts continued to be present in the substrate. Compared with the control, NaCl and RW plants showed a greater rate of Na+ and Cl- absorption by roots. Stem water potential was mainly affected by the NaCl treatment in the last weeks of the saline period. Through the experiment, the stomatal conductance and photosynthesis values were the lowest in plants that received the highest amount of salts, especially NaCl treatment which was the only treatment that did not recover at the end of experiment. Plants of the IW treatment showed slight changes in stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate with respect to the control, although the reduction in the growth and size of these plants suggests that slight increases in EC could be very toxic for this species. Hence, using different sources of water with similar EC, (NaCl and RW) it is important to know the exact composition, since the toxic effects produced by high concentrations of Na+ and Cl might be offset by the effect of other ions like magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. In the physicochemical analysis of water, the highest concentrations of these ions were observed in RW and as consequence, their concentrations in plants were not reduced by the Na+ and Cl- effect, phosphorus even increased, improving the plant nutritional balance. |
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