6.5.3: Other Plant Status Indicators

Turner (1990) discussed various other measures of plant water status indicators, including leaf color. With many crops, stressed plants often turn a darker color if soil water stress occurs. This is particularly evident in turfgrass. Bluegrass, for example, will turn to a blue-green color when under stress.

Other plant responses to stress include leaf rolling and wilting. While all of these visual techniques are useful, many often appear too late to be useful for water management. Significant yield and economic losses may have already occurred. Prediction is still a problem for these techniques.

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