Effect of two flooding levels on growth and physiological parameters in peach rootstock ‘Nemared’

While peach tree is very sensitive to waterlogging, there are no works on the effect of the flooding over only part of its root system. The objective of this work was to investigate physiological and growth responses of Nemared rootstock to partial flooding of roots. Treatments were performed for 6-days: control trees, half-flooded, and fully-flooded. Both flooding treatments negatively affected the vegetative growth, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll content and leaf water potential. The response observed in the half-flooded treatment was intermediate between the control and fully-flooded treatment. The fastest response of stomatal conductance to soil flooding, before differences among treatments in leaf water potential were perceived, suggested that there should be a stomatal closure mechanism that responds to a signal that arises from flooded roots. The importance of this work, lies in showing the negative effects of unnoticed and partial floods, frequently occurring in peach trees.