A cassava crop is often exposed to more than one period of water deficit during the growing season. The objective of this study was to verify if there is a difference in the FTSW (fraction of transpirable soil water) threshold for transpiration and leaf growth in cassava plants subjected to one or two periods of water deficit. Two experiments with cassava (Fepagro RS 13 cultivar) were conducted. Treatments were four soil water regimes subdivided into two periods, period 1 (P1) and period 2 (P2): water regimes WR1 and WR2 (with water deficit in both periods and without water deficit in both periods, respectively), and water regimes WR3 and WR4 (with water deficit only in P1 or P2, respectively). The FTSW approach was used to indicate the threshold for transpiration and leaf growth. The FTSW threshold was 0.35, 0.38, and 0.37 for leaf growth and 0.28, 0.26, and 0.28 for transpiration in P1 of WR2 and WR3 and P2 of WR4, respectively. In P2 of WR2, the FTSW threshold for leaf growth and transpiration was 0.09 and 0.13, respectively. It was concluded that there is a decrease in the FTSW threshold in cassava during the second period compared to the first period of soil water deficit, which can be explained by the smaller leaf area, which allowed a longer leaf turgor period, thus delaying activation of the stomata control mechanisms. The practical implication of these results is that they can be used as parameters for crop irrigation, as well as for selecting cultivars more tolerant to water deficit.
Manihot esculenta; acclimation; water stress; FTSW
