Growth and gas exchange of Tachigali vulgaris submitted to water deficiency

Abstract

Tachigali vulgaris L.G. Silva & H.C. Lima is a pioneer species, colonizer of marginal lands and road margins, which often initiates secondary succession in open areas by the intense germination of their seeds in the soil. Studies on fast-growing Amazon forest species are very scarce, when it refers to the influence of abiotic factors on an ecophysiology of the species. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse belong to laboratory of Estudos da Biodiversidade de Plantas Superiores of the Federal Rural University of Amazonia. The experiment was completely randomized in split plot scheme, two times: five and ten days of water suspension, and two water conditions: control and water deficit, with four replications with one plant /pot. The water deficiency condition for ten days negatively affected the growth and indicators of gas exchange (A, gs and E). Adding to the fact that the experiment occurred in a year of extreme climatic anomaly (El Niño), the plants did not resist and perished in the internal conditions of greenhouse. The water deficiency condition altered the growth parameters and the environmental relations of the Tachigali vulgaris species, thus evidencing its low physiological plasticity to this abiotic condition.