Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T20:54:05.086Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Water Stress Index for Tea (Camellia sinensis)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

William Stephens  and
M. K. V. Carr
William Stephens
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, England
M. K. V. Carr
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A simple Stress Time Index (STI) for predicting yield loss in the tea crop due to drought is proposed, based on the daily summation of the difference between the potential soil water deficit and a specified limiting value. Validation of the technique with results from a line-source irrigation experiment with a single clone in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania suggests that there is a linear relationship between STI and relative yield loss during the warm dry season. As a result of changes in the composition of the shoot population at each harvest the apparent critical deficit at which shoot growth is restricted increases from below 20 to 300 mm as the dry season progresses. The rate of yield loss with increasing STI also varies through the dry season for the same reason.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , October 1989 , pp. 545 - 558
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Carr, M. K. V. (1970). The role of water in the tea crop. In Physiology of Tree Crops, 287–305 (Eds Luckwill, L. C. and Cutting, C. V.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Carr, M. K. V. (1974). Irrigating seedling tea in Southern Tanzania: effects on total yields, distribution of yield and water use. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 83:363–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M. K. V. (1977). Changes in the water status of tea clones during dry weather in Kenya. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 89:297–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M. K. V., Dale, M. O. & Stephens, William (1987). Yield distribution in irrigated tea (Camellia sinensis) at two sites in eastern Africa. Experimental Agriculture 23:75–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M. K. V., Stephens, William & Congdon, T. C. E. (1988). Tea in Tanzania. Outlook on Agriculture 17:18–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denmead, O. T. & Shaw, R. H. (1962). Availability of soil water to plants as affected by soil moisture content and meteorological conditions. Agronomy Journal 54:385–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fordham, R. & Palmer-Jones, R. W. (1977). Simulation of intraseasonal yield fluctuations of tea in Malawi. Experimental Agriculture 13:33–42.Google Scholar
French, B. K. & Legg, B. J. (1979). Rothamsted irrigation 1964–76. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92:15–37.Google Scholar
Hanks, R. J., Keller, J., Ramussen, V. P. & Wilson, G. D. (1976). Line source sprinkler for continuously variable irrigation - crop production studies. Soil Science America Journal 44:426–429.Google Scholar
Hiler, E. A. & Clark, R. N. (1971). Stress Day Index to characterise effects of water stress on crop yields. Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers 14:757–761.Google Scholar
Hsiao, T. C. (1973). Plant responses to water stress. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 24:519–570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, D. D. V. & Carr, M. K. V. (1988). Analysing line source irrigation experiments. Experimental Agriculture 24:169–176.Google Scholar
Othieno, C. O. (1978). Supplementary irrigation of young clonal tea in Kenya. II. Internal water status. Experimental Agriculture 14:309–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penman, H. L. (1970). Woburn irrigation, 1960–68. IV. Design and interpretation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75:69–73.Google Scholar
Stephens, William, Hamer, P. J. C. & Carr, M. K. V. (1988). The Yield Response of Tea to Irrigation and Fertilizer. Second Annual Report to ODA: 1986–87. Silsoe: Silsoe College.Google Scholar
Stephens, William & Carr, M. K. V. (1990). Seasonal and clonal differences in shoot extension rates and numbers in tea (Camellia sinensis). Experimental Agriculture (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanton, T. W. (1982a). Environmental factors affecting the yield of tea (Camellia sinensis). I. Effect of air temperature. Experimental Agriculture 18:47–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanton, T. W. (1982b). Environmental factors affecting the yield of tea (Camellia sinensis). II. Effects of soil temperature, day length and dry air. Experimental Agriculture 18:53–63.Google Scholar