Reponses of mamey sapote (Pouteria sapota) trees to continuous and cyclical flooding in calcareous soil

2010 
Abstract Physiological and growth responses of ‘Pantin’ and ‘Magana’ mamey sapote ( Pouteria sapota ) trees to continuous and cyclical flooding were studied in a series of experiments. Trees were grown in containers in a very gravelly loam soil and were subjected to continuous flooding of the root zone for 30–66 days (Experiments 1 and 2) or alternating flooding–unflooding cycles for 50 days (Experiments 3–5). For all experiments, the control treatment consisted of nonflooded trees. Net CO 2 assimilation ( A ) and stomatal conductance ( g s ) decreased within 3 days of continuous flooding and internal CO 2 concentration was significantly higher in leaves of flooded than nonflooded plants. In the cyclic flooding experiments, trees were flooded in 3- to 6-day cycles and then unflooded for the same time periods. Stomatal conductance and A decreased within 3 days of flooding, leaf epinasty occurred between days 5 and 10, leaf senescence and abscission occurred between days 15 and 30, and branch dieback and tree death occurred between days 30 and 60. Three cycles of 3-day flooding and 3-day recovery of trees had little effect on leaf gas exchange of ‘Magana’ trees. Similarly, ‘Pantin’ trees survived 3 cycles of 6 days of flooding interspersed with 3–6 days of recovery despite consistent decreases in g s and A during flooding. Stomatal conductance and A of both mamey sapote cultivars decreased within a few days of flooding and this species appears to have intermediate flooding tolerance compared with other tropical fruit crops based on tree survival.
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