| Abstrakt: |
The limited water resources of Iran renders modern methods of water conservation and preservation, e.g. the use of superabsorbent polymers in the soil, one of the confront approaches of water deficit. As such, in order to investigate the effect of superabsorbent on vegetative and reproductive growth of Page Mandarin in drought stress condition, the present study has conducted a factorial experiment, based on completely-randomized design, with three replications in the Citrus and Subtropical Fruits Research Center of Ramsar during 2016. The factors are consisted of three levels of water stress (100%, 75%, and 50% of field capacity) and superabsorbent (0%, 0.25%, and 0.5% wt). Results show that by increasing water stress, amounts of electrolyte leakage, proline, fruit cracking, and titratable acidity have increased. Also, at the 50% of field capacity level, 0.5% superabsorbent application has caused a significant increase in leaf relative water content, total chlorophyll content, leaf water potential by 60%, 15%, 23%, and 87.5%, respectively, while reducing electrolyte leakage and total soluble solids by 65% and 22%, respectively, compared to the same treatment condition without any superabsorbent. Therefore, it seems that superabsorbent can increase plant tolerance for counteracting moisture stress via maintaining unusable water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
