Soil waterlogging: effect on the initial growth of oat (Avena sativa L.)

Abstract

The soil waterlogging reduces oxygen content near the roots, affecting energy metabolism and absorption of water and nutrients. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different periods of soil waterlogging on physiological characteristics of initial growth in oat plants. The treatments consisted of soil in field capacity and soil flooding for 72 and 120 hours, with six replications. To analyze the initial growth were observed the number of leaves, leaf area, leaf area ratio and leaf weight, specific leaf area, dry weight of leaf, stem and roots, length of shoot and primary root. The increasing of the period of flooding reduced the accumulation of root dry matter, the leaf area and the specific leaf area. However, the length of shoot and root were not affected by periods of soil flooding. The flooding periods negatively affect physiological attributes of initial growth in oat plants.