Morphologcal responses ofPanicum maximum Jacq. cv. Tobiatâ to water stress

Abstract

A study was conducted in pots, under controlled water conditions in order to evaluate some morphological responses of Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Tobiatã to water stress, by subjecting the plants to three soil water conditions (U₁ = 45%, U₂ = 29 and U₃ varying from 37% to 27% of soil water content). The basic treatment design was a factorial combination of soil water condition x period of evaluation. A complete randomized design with three replications was used. The deleterious water stress effect was initially observed in the shoots, being the roots affected later. Plants firstly subjected to a particular water stress appeared to be more affected than plants which were already experiencing this stress. The general condition of the plants under water stress suggests that there would be a reduced recovery capacity to additional stress such as grazing or mechanical cutting.