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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
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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

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References

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