Effects of soil compaction and water stress on growth and root development of Olea europaea L. at glasshouse

Document Type : Research article

Author

Scientific Board Member, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, I.R. Iran.

Abstract

The aim of the trial was to investigate the effects of soil compaction and water stress on olive seedling growth and root development. The trial was carried out under pot and glasshouse condition in 2001 at the NationalBotanical Garden, Tehran. The experimental design was Factorial under completely randomized plots with two factors (compaction and irrigation treatments), two levels and three replicates. There were three pots in each plot. The pots were filled with compacted soil (sandy clay loam) up to 50 cm height at one of the levels (bulk densities of 1.3 [low] and 1.6 [high] g/cm3). Seed propagated seedlings were transplanted into the pots and irrigated under one of the period intervals (three [wet] and six [dry] days). The seedlings were harvested in summer 2002 and their survival and canopy and root parameters, including height, shoot dry weight, root length and root dry weight were measured. The data were analyzed using SPSS Microsoft program and ANOVA and T-test methods.
Only compaction had significant effects on root parameters. The high level of compaction not only had negative effects on root development, but it increased root length and dry weight significantly. It could be concluded that although both the compaction and drought stresses did not significantly influence survival, but they significantly affected root development
 

Keywords

References

 
1- Barker, E.A., Procopiou, J. and Janoudi, A., 2000. The leaf and fruit cuticles of selected drought tolerant plants. In: M.J. Bukovac (ed.) International Symposium on Growth and Development of Fruit Crops.  East Lansing, Michigan, USA, 19-21 June, 1997. Acta Horticulturae, 527: 85-93.
2- Boone, F.R., Bouma, J. and De Smet, L.A.H., 1978. A case study on the effect of soil compaction on potato growth in a loam sand soil. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science, 26: 405-420.
3- Boone, F. R., Kroesbergen, B. and Boers, A., 1984. Soil conditions and growth of spring barley on a tilled and untilled marine loam soil. A joint study of the Westmaas Research Group on New Tillage Systems. Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, The Netherlands. Agricultural Research Report No. 925: 124-166.
4- Carter, L.M., Stockton, J.R., Tavernetti, J.R. and Colwich, R.F., 1965. Precision tillage for cotton production.  Transaction of ASAE, 8(2): 177-179.
5- Clark, L.J., Whalley, W.R. and Barraclough, P.B., 2003. How do roots penetrate strong soil. Plant and Soil, 255: 93-104.
6- Dichio, B., Nuzzo, V., Xiloyannis, C., Celano, G. and Anelopoulos, K., 1997.  Drought stress-induced variation of pressure-volume relationships in Olea europaea L. cv. “Coratina”. In: II International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops. ISHS Acta Horticulturae, 449: 401-410.
7- Dichio, B., Xiloyannis, C., Anelopoulos, K., Nuzzo,V., Bufo, S.A. and Celano, G., 2003. Drought induced variations of water relations parameters in olea europaea. Plant and Soil, 257: 381-389.
8- Fernandez, J.E. and Moreno, F,. 1999. Water use by the olive tree.  In: M.B. Kirkham (ed.) Water use in crop production. Haworth Press, Inc.: 101-162.
9- Fernandez, J.E., Moreno, F., Giron, I.F. and Blazquez, O.M., 1997. Control of water consumption by the olive tree. In: II International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops. ISHS Acta Horticulturae, 449: 83-90.
10- Kirkegaard, J.A., 1990. The effects of compaction on the growth of Pigeon Pea on clay soils. University of Queensland. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 289 p.
11- Lowry, F.E., Taylor, H.M. and Huck, M.G., 1970. Growth rate and yield of cotton as influenced by depth and bulk density of soil.  Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 34: 306-309.
12- Phillips, R. E. and Kirkham, D., 1962. Soil compaction in the field and corn growth. Agronomy Journal, 54: 29-34.49.
13- Rogers, H.T. and Thurlow, D.L., 1973. Soybeans restricted by soil compaction. Highlights of agriculture research. AuburnUniversity Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, AL 20 (10).
14- Russell, R. S., 1977. Plant root systems: Their function and interaction with the soil. McGraw-Hill (UK), Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: 298 p.
15- Sardabi, H., 1997. An investigation of the relationship between penetration resistance, soil physical properties and the growth of selected tree species.  A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Forestry. The AustralianNationalUniversity: 144 p.
16- Scott, T. W. and Erickson, A. E., 1964. Effect of aeration and mechanical impedance on the root development of alfalfa, sugar beets and tomatoes. Agronomy Journal, 56: 575-576.
17- Sheesley, R., Grimes, D.W. and McClellan, W. D., 1974. Influence of wheel traffic on yield and stand longevity of alfalfa. Californian Agriculture: 28: 6-8.
18- So, H.B., 1987. Soil physical factors limiting crop establishment. In: I. M., Wood, W. H., Hazard, and F. R.,  From, (eds.). Proceedings of Crop Establishment Workshop, AIAS Occasional Publication No. 34: 154-165.
19- Taylor, H. M. and Burnett, E., 1963. Influence of soil strength on root growth habits of plants.  Soil Science, 98: 174-180.
20- Taylor, H.M., Locke, L.F. and Box, J.E., 1964.  Pans in southern Great Plains soils: their effects on yield of cotton and grain sorghum.  Agronomy Journal, 56: 542-545.
21- Taylor, H. M., Roberson, G. M., Parker, J. R. and Jessie, J., 1966.  Soil strength-root penetration relations for medium to coarse textured soil materials. Soil Science, 102: 18-22.
22- Taylor, H. M., Huck, M.G. and Klepper, B., 1972.  Root development in relation to soil physical conditions. In: D. Hillel (ed.) Optimising the soil physical environment toward greater crop yields. Academic Press, N. Y. and London: 57-77.
23- Tennant, D., 1975. A test of a modified line intersect method of estimated root length. Journal of Ecology, 63: 995-1001.
24- Trouse, A. C., 1966. Alteration of the infiltration permeability capacity of tropical soils by vehicular traffic. In: proceedings of First Pan-American Soil Conservation Congress. Sao Paulo, Brazil: 1103-1109.
25- Voorhees, W. B., 1977. Soil compaction: how it influences moisture, temperature, yield, root growth. Crops and Soils Magazine, 29: 7-10.
26- Voorhees, W. B., 1987. Assessment of soil susceptibility to compaction using soil and climatic data bases. Soil and Tillage Research 10: 29-38.
Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research
Volume 12, Issue 3
October 2004
Pages 426-413

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics