Water Requirement of Gmelina arborea on Nursery Stage Under Controlled Conditions

ABSTRACT

In order to recognize the Melina water requirement in the nursery stage, we performed a test with four crop coefficient (Kc: 0,6, 0,8, 1,2, 1,4). These treatments included irrigation blades of 2,4 mm.day^–1, 3,2 mm.day^–1, 4,8 mm.day^–1 and 5.6 mm.day^–1 respectively, due to the area reference evapotranspiration at 4mm.day^–1. It was observed a decrease of plant growth as the raising of the irrigation blade. The highest values of plant height, leaf area, leaf dry weight, dry weight of stem and root dry weight were obtained with the blade of 2,4 mm.day^–1. On the other hand, the growth rates studied have shown the same trend. Based on these results we determined that the Kc for this species in the pond stage is 0,6.

Keywords:
irrigation levels; coefficient of cultivation (KC); growth