Deficit Irrigation Effects on Water Use Characteristics of Bentgrass Species

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the effects of deficit irrigation on water use traits of colonial (Agrostis capillaris L.), creeping (A stolonifera L.), and velvet (A canina L.) bentgrasses and to compare their water use. Field experiments were conducted from July to November in 2002 and 2003. Plots were irrigated at four levels of irrigation based on the percentage of actual evapotranspiration (ETa): 100, 80, 60, and 40% ETa replacement. The influence of deficit irrigation on water use was evaluated by measuring soil water depletion (SWD) and water use efficiency (WUE). The WUE was quantified by the ratio of canopy net photosynthetic rate to transpiration rate and carbon isotope discrimination (CID). Evapotranspiration (ET) rates were compared among the three species under nonlimiting moisture conditions (100% ETa). Our results demonstrated that water use characteristics varied with species, irrigation regime, and climatic conditions. Irrigating at either 60 or 80% ETa had no significant effects on WUE compared with 100% ETa irrigation; however, plots irrigated at 60% ETa exhibited higher SWD compared with plots at 80 and 100% ETa Velvet bentgrass exhibited lower SWD, higher WUE, and lower CID compared with colonial bentgrass during the summer treatment period, and creeping bentgrass exhibited intermediate water use characteristics among the three species. These results suggest that irrigating bentgrass species at 60 to 80% ETa could be practiced to increase WUE during summer and 40% ETa during fall months under the conditions of this study.

Surfactant effect on forage yield and water use efficiency for berseem clover and basil in intercropping and limited irrigation treatments

“…Results support the idea that the agronomic association among legumes and grasses forage crops favours genotypic interaction in a plant mixture whose root systems leave biochemical compounds in the soil which is desirable for a qualitative and quantitative biomass production (Martiniello and Teixeira da Silva, 2011). Nevertheless, DaCosta and Huang (2006) reported that water use characteristics vary with species, irrigation regime, and climatic conditions. Importantly, the efficiency of using an intercropping system across surfactant in arid and semi-arid regions was improved during the warm season when soil water availability decreases due to the high temperature and low precipitation.…”

Nitrogen Source and Rate Effects on Velvet Bentgrass Putting Green Turf

“…New cultivars of VBG were released beginning in the mid-1990s, which exhibited better disease resistance, better heat tolerance, were fi ner-textured and had a darker green color than older VBG (Brilman, 2003;Rose-Fricker et al, 2004). Managed as fairway turf, VBG depleted soil water content less than creeping or colonial bentgrasses while maintaining better turf color and canopy photosynthesis (DaCosta and Huang, 2006). Managed as fairway turf, VBG depleted soil water content less than creeping or colonial bentgrasses while maintaining better turf color and canopy photosynthesis (DaCosta and Huang, 2006).…”

“…Defi cit irrigation was chosen because VBG requires less water to maintain acceptable turf quality than creeping bentgrass (DaCosta and Huang, 2006) and to evaluate our treatments as part of a lower input turf system. Irrigation was identical from June 2007 to the end of the trial.…”

Automated Rainout Shelter's Design for Well‐Defined Water Stress Field Phenotyping of Crop Plants

“…The earlier retractable designs featured shed-like shelters, which ran on ground-based rail systems (Bruce and Shuman, 1962;Horton, 1962;Hiler, 1969;Stansell et al, 1976;Legg et al, 1978;Upchurch et al, 1983;Ries and Zachmeier, 1985) or elevated rail systems (Dubetz et al, 1968;Arkin et al, 1976;Foale et al, 1979;Maw and Stansell, 1986). Retractable shelters have since evolved to incorporate designs based on polytunnels (DaCosta and Huang, 2006;Misson et al, 2011;de Guevara et al, 2015). While fixed and retractable rainout shelters are typically used in field crop research, other specialized shelter designs have also been reported, such as curtain-type shelters (Beier et al, 2004), hand-operated designs (Bittman et al, 1987;Chauhan et al, 1997), and unique, semiportable, retractable shelters (Kvien and Branch, 1988;Hatfield et al, 1990;Parra et al, 2012).…”