Question

You are the agricultural science consultant to a large corporate farm that grows 7,000 acres of wheat on land adjoining the mediterranean sea. just before the wheat matures, all the wells used for irrigation water run dry. the farm manager wants to irrigate the fields with water drawn from the mediterranean sea. from previous tests, you know that the solute potential of root tissues taken from wheat is -11.13 bars. you test the seawater and determine its solute potential to be -24.26 bars. what will you advise the farm manager and why

Answer 1

I will advise the farm manager not to use the sea water for irrigation as the sea water is of lower water potential than the roots of the wheat. If sea water is used to irrigate the fields, all wheat plants will die from dehydration as water will move out from the roots to the surrounding because a potential gradient is present between the root tissues and the soil.