Water consumption and eucalyptus growth under different atmospheric demands and soil water levels

The general objective of the project is to characterize water consumption, natural resource use efficiency, and initial growth of eucalyptus clones under different atmospheric demands and soil water levels. Irrigated seedlings and those under water deficit are grown in polyethylene pots under conditions of high and low atmospheric demands, depending on the adoption of different air temperature values and vapor pressure deficit inside climate-controlled greenhouses. Real-time water consumption monitoring is carried out by an automated lysimetric system, composed of individual platforms with a weighing capacity of up to 60 kg. Meteorological stations are installed inside the greenhouses for detailed characterization of the environments. Detailed eco-physiological characterization of the studied material is always performed in the experiments. The expected results aim to answer the following questions: (i) how does growth and water use differ among Eucalyptus clones? (ii) how does resource use efficiency alter the amount of transpired water and assimilated carbon? (iii) how does atmospheric demand control the transpiration of Eucalyptus clones at different levels of water availability?

Funding: EDITAL UNIVERSAL/CNPq Nº 10/2023 

Execution period: 2024-2026