DETERMINING PLANT WATER USE AND LANDSCAPE COEFFICIENTS OF SELECTED NURSERY AND LANDSCAPE PLANTS

Abstract

This study, water use, species factor, and the overall growth of ten landscape plants grown in both 1.6 liter containers (commercial nursery practice) (simulation of landscape conditions) were determined and compared. Water use per plant and species factor were influenced by species. However, this means that the water use of container-grown plants may be used to predict or estimate the water use of the same species that are grown in a landscape situation. Water use per plant, landscape coefficient and overall growth differed by species. Of the ten species tested, shrubs(Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis, Acalypha Godseffiana, Lantana Camara Adhatode Vasica ,Phyllanthus, Dodonaea, , Acalypha Margenata) ground cover(Gazania,) and trees(Ficus Nitida , Ficus Bengamena) , Water use per plant was highest and the same in Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis, Lantana Camara, and Acalypha Margenata (0.21L/day), while Dodonaea had the lowest water use(0.16L/day) for shrubs. Likewise, the trees water use was highest in Ficus Bengamena (0.36L/day). INTRODUCTION he increasing competition among agriculture, industry and municipal water users in arid and semi-arid regions has brought increased attention to water conservation and the improvement of irrigation efficiency. Since landscape and ornamental plants irrigation accounts for 40 to 60% of total household water consumption conserving and reducing the amount of water used for landscape and ornamental plants irrigation is critically important. Irrigation efficiency is improved by grouping plants with similar water requirements 1-Grand. Student; 2-Prof. Emt. of Ag. Eng., Ain-Shams Univ.; 3-Prof. Emt. of Ag. Horticulture, Ain-Shams Univ. T Misr J. Ag. Eng., 27 (2): 521-529