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Drought Tolerance in Six Sweetgum Clones

Sixteen ramets each of three good and three poor sweetgum phenotypes were exposed to two watering levels for four weeks in a greenhouse. Response parameters focused on stomatal conductance and biomass partitioning to explain possible mechanisms of drought tolerance. Water stress caused significant declines in stomatal conductance. Clones showed little interaction with watering treatment for conductance but exhibited considerable variation within treatments. Analysis of allometric growth indicated an increase in root dry matter at the expense of leaf dry matter in stressed trees. Clones generally did not vary significantly in their relative partitioning of biomass. Clonal responses were independent of ortet field performance.


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Author(s): H. P. Ehlert, Michael W. Cunningham

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1989

Section: Concurrent Session 3A