Abstract
The determination of an adequate container volume that maximize vegetative growth and the adoption of an efficient irrigation system in soilless culture, which improve water use efficiency without affecting crop performance, have become a priority in ornamental industry. A greenhouse experiment was conducted aiming
to assess the effects of two container volumes (1 dm3 or 3 dm3) and two irrigation systems (closed dripirrigation or subirrigation) on growth parameters, ornamental quality, SPAD index, leaf gas exchange, agronomical and physiological water use efficiency (WUEA and WUEP) of containerized Euphorbia × lomi Rauh. There were no significant differences in terms of plant growth parameters between the two irrigation systems. The subirrigation system was more efficient in terms of water use than the drip-irrigation system since it could save on average 27% of water. The WUEA recorded with subirrigation in 3 dm3 and 1 dm3 containers were significantly higher by 43% and 81% compared with those recorded with drip-irrigation. The plant height, leaf number, leaf area, root length and shoot dry biomass were significantly lower by 45.7%, 39.5%, 45.5%, 35.1% and 43.1%, respectively when the Euphorbia × lomi plants were cultivated in the 1 dm3 containers. The best crop performance recorded in the 3 dm3 containers was related to a higher photosynthetic activity and higher leaf chlorophyll content (i.e. SPAD index) with respect to the plants grown in the 1 dm3 containers.
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