The present work had the objective of characterizing water uptake by 'Taiti' lemon (Citrus latifolia Tanaka) roots in the soil profile under different microsprinkler irrigation intervals. The work was conducted under semi-arid conditions, in a sandy loam soil. Water uptake by roots was determined from soil water content by means of TDR probes, at several positions in the soil profile between two irrigation events. The root distribution was evaluated based upon data of length and root diameter at the same locations of TDR probes. According to the results, it was verified that: (i) water uptake reduced as the distance root-microsprinkler increased; (ii) lemon crop extracts more water when there is no restriction to the available water in the wetted volume; (iii) the area of water uptake by lemon roots increases with increase in the irrigation intervals; (iv) roots with diameter between 0.5 and 2.0 mm extracted more water from the soil.
microsprinkler; root system; lemon Taiti
