Growth and ecophysiological aspects in young plants of Hymenaea Courbaril L submitted to water stress and flooding

The jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril L). is a Neotropical tree found in sandy soils, loamy well-drained upland and high plains, its importance is related to the fact that it is a promising species for reforestation programs and altered area recovery. Work objective was to evaluate the growth and ecophysiological aspect in young plants jatobá submitted water stress and flooding. The study was conducted in a greenhouse at the Federal Rural University of Amazonia in Belém, PA, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized with three water conditions: control, drought and flooding. A preliminary experiment was conducted simulating a severe drought and anaerobic stress, with suspension of irrigation and flood a water blade above the ground on the seedlings within 30 days. It was applied to the analysis of variance in the results and when there was a significant difference, the means were compared by Tukey test at 5% significance. The following parameters were evaluated: number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter, dry root mass, shoot, total leaf area, water potential, transpiration, stomatal conductance, carbohydrate and sucrose concentration. The results showed that the treatments promoted significant changes in plants, with decreases in transpiration and stomatal conductance, followed by the significant reduction in growth parameters, due to the reduction of water potential of plants. In addition, water stress (deficit and flooding) signification promoted increased levels of carbohydrates and sucrose in the plant.