Actual evapotranspiration, root extraction, water regime and productivity in the case of lucerne

Measurements were made of the actual evaportranspiration, root extraction and above-ground yield in the case of two varieties of lucerne Medicago sativa L. - Du Puits and Polder - and mixtures of them in equal parts. The daily kinetics of the water potential of the leaves and the collar show that the water regimes of the two varieties are identical in a first approximation. The root systems are different. Polder has the deeper system. The regime of the binary mixture is not simply a juxtaposition of the regimes of the constitutents. Two types of non-linearity were found. The first relates to water flow and the second to productivity. It is postulated that the root systems of the two varieties constituting the mixture undergo plastic deformation, leading to a more efficient resultant system. A system of this type needs, on the other hand, an allocation of photosynthates that would affect its productivity. (author)