Mantovani, Dario and Veste, Maik and Freese, Dirk
(2011)
How much water is used by a black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) short-rotation plantation on degraded soil?
In: Jahrestagung der DBG 2011: Böden verstehen - Böden nutzen - Böden fit machen, 03.-09.09.2011, Berlin.
Abstract
Black locust is a tree species autochthonous from North America, were its distribution range from humid to sub-humid climate. As an early successional and nitrogen-fixing species, black locust grows rapidly as a pioneer tree species under a wide range of site
condition. Black locust short-rotation plantations for bioenergy production is raising
interest, particularly for those areas were conventional crops systems are economically
not profitable. In southern Brandenburg black locust have been successfully used for
land reclamation and biomass production in recultivated open-cast lignite mining areas,
where nutrient and water resources are limited. An open key question is the water use
of the trees under drought conditions which are quite common in these areas. For the
determination of transpiration at whole plant level we used a modified wick lysimeter
system, which allows us to study plant growth under controlled water regime. Water
amount is controlled by the actual evapotranspiration and water demand of the plants
and supplied by an automatic drip irrigation system. Transpiration is calculated from the
experimental water balance in daily intervals. Photosynthesis is the essential process
for biomass productivity including CO2 uptake and water loss controlled by the stomata
on the leaf level. Therefore, the ecophysiological response of the plants to drought
stress is investigated by using a portable gas exchange system, which allows the
measurements of transpiration under various temperature and air humidity regimes.
Water use at whole plant level has been linked to their ecophysiological performance.
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