TY - JOUR A1 - Ruiz Sánchez, María C. AU - Domingo Miguel, Rafael AU - Torrecillas Melendreras, Arturo AU - Pérez Pastor, Alejandro T1 - Water stress preconditioning to improve drought resistance in young apricot plants Y1 - 2000 SN - 0168-9452 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10317/1019 AB - The effect of water stress preconditioning was studied in 1-year-old apricot plants (Prunus armeniaca L., cv. Búlida). Plants were submitted to different treatments, T-0 (control treatment) and T-1, drip irrigated daily; T-2 and T-3, irrigated daily at 50% and 25% of T-0, respectively; T-4 and T-5, irrigated to field capacity every 3 and 6 days, respectively. After 30 days, irrigation was withheld for 10 days, maintaining the T-0 treatment irrigated daily. After this period, the plants were re-irrigated to run-off and treated as control treatment. The stomatal closure and epinasty observed in response to water stress represented adaptive mechanisms to drought, allowing the plants to regulate water loss more effectively and prevent leaf heating. A substantial reduction in the irrigation water supplied combined with a high frequency of application (T-3 treatment) promoted plant hardening; the plants enduring drought better, due to their greater osmotic adjustment (0.77 MPa), which prevented severe plant dehydration and leaf abscission. Such a preconditioning treatment may be valuable for young apricot plants in the nursery stage in order to improve their subsequent resistance to drought. A 50% reduction in daily irrigation (T-2 treatment) did not significantly affect either gas exchange rates or leaf turgor, which suggests that water should be applied frequently if deficit irrigation is to be implemented. KW - Producción Vegetal KW - Intercambio gaseoso KW - Endurecimiento de plantas KW - Prunus armeniaca KW - Relaciones hídricas KW - Estrés hídrico KW - Ajuste osmótico KW - Gas exchange KW - Plant hardening KW - Water relations KW - Water stress KW - Osmotic adjustment LA - eng PB - Elsevier Science ER -