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. 1968 Dec;43(12):1931–1934. doi: 10.1104/pp.43.12.1931

Diurnal Pattern of Water Potential in Woody Plants

Betty Klepper 1,1
PMCID: PMC1087106  PMID: 16656992

Abstract

The dynamic relationship between the rates of water loss and uptake controls plant water status. Marked diurnal variations in water potential of both leaves and fruit occurred in all plants studied. Variations in water status during the day were most clearly related to changes in evaporative demand of the air and were different for the east and west sides of a tree. At night, the plant water potential reflected the soil moisture status.

Changes in the water potential of pear fruit were correlated with changes in fruit diameter. Since water loss from fruit occurred mostly through the pedicel into the xylem of the tree, the fruit could be used as a crude gauge of xylem water potential, which also showed dramatic changes during the day.

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1931

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Boyer J. S. Leaf water potentials measured with a pressure chamber. Plant Physiol. 1967 Jan;42(1):133–137. doi: 10.1104/pp.42.1.133. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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