Abstract
Details of a novel device for programming and replenishing water transpired by potted plants are reported. To test the robustness of the system, vines were subjected to progressive water stress (WS) whose severity was maintained in relation to the transpiration (Tc) of well-watered (WW) plants. Throughout the 40-day experiment, WS water supply was progressively lowered to 70%, 50% and 30% of WW Tc prior to re-watering. Over the same stages, mean Tc was 74%, 48%, 28% and 93% of WW. The very close linear relationships found between vine transpiration and water supply for data pooled over the 40 measuring days (R2 = 0.95 and 0.94, respectively) confirm the system’s reliability to accurately feed the vines with a water supply that closely tracks the measured transpiration. The emptying volume of the cylinder tank was set at 265 mL and proved to be adequate for daily water losses, which ranged from about 300 to 2300 mL. Besides exempting operators from laborious and time-consuming manual supply of irrigation volumes, the system offers such advantages as the ability to adjust water supply to actual water use concurrently measured via a grapevine-enclosure system as well as differentiating the water supply according to the size and, hence, to the transpiring potential of each vine.
- ©2015 by the American Society for Enology and Viticulture
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