The choice of plants with low impact of maintenance is an important purpose for green design in the urban Mediterranean areas, since the climate is characterized by hot, dry summers, and mild, wet winters. The plants growing in this region are frequently subjected to drought stress during summer, so the drought tolerance is required for a sustainable management of ornamental plants. The aromatic plants represent good candidates, due to their rusticity and for the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This research represents a part of the INTERREG-ALCOTRA Project “AROMA” dealing with the investigation of aromatic plants for environmental and productive activities. Two different species (Salvia dolomitica Codd. and S. sinaloensis Fern.) have been cloned and treated in controlled environmental conditions with three irrigation regimes (100%, 50% and 0% of container capacity - CC), in order to characterize their drought resistance at morphological and physiological levels. The obtained results indicated that the plants are tolerant to mild drought stress (50% CC), but exhibited a different behavior under severe drought condition (0% CC). Different responses between species are observed, particularly on water potential, growth index, and on primary and secondary metabolites composition (pigments and VOCs).
Drought tolerance in ornamental plants used for green design in urban areas
PISTELLI, LUISA;PISTELLI, LAURA
2012-01-01
Abstract
The choice of plants with low impact of maintenance is an important purpose for green design in the urban Mediterranean areas, since the climate is characterized by hot, dry summers, and mild, wet winters. The plants growing in this region are frequently subjected to drought stress during summer, so the drought tolerance is required for a sustainable management of ornamental plants. The aromatic plants represent good candidates, due to their rusticity and for the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This research represents a part of the INTERREG-ALCOTRA Project “AROMA” dealing with the investigation of aromatic plants for environmental and productive activities. Two different species (Salvia dolomitica Codd. and S. sinaloensis Fern.) have been cloned and treated in controlled environmental conditions with three irrigation regimes (100%, 50% and 0% of container capacity - CC), in order to characterize their drought resistance at morphological and physiological levels. The obtained results indicated that the plants are tolerant to mild drought stress (50% CC), but exhibited a different behavior under severe drought condition (0% CC). Different responses between species are observed, particularly on water potential, growth index, and on primary and secondary metabolites composition (pigments and VOCs).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
