What is the best protocol for setting up a potted experiment to measure relative water content (RWC) of above ground biomass of sorghum. Details should include measuring water content before the beginning of the experiment watering regime and when to measure the RWC.
Hello Tatenda,
Tipically the determination of RWC in plant tissue implies the removal of the tissue of interest. This is because you should at first weigh the fresh weight (FW), then put the sample in water for at least 24h and obtain the weight at full turgidity (TW), and finally oven-dry the samples at 60°C for 48/72 hours in order to get the dry weight (DW).
Certainly, in order to do this, you should have a high number of replicates. For example you can have a (a) control treatment with regular irrigation and a (b) deficit irrigation treatment. Let's say you have 48 control pots and 48 deficit irrigated pots. At the beginning of the experiment you may calculate RWC in 6 pots per treatment. This will allow you to have a good number of replicates per treatment. Then you can proceed determining the RWC in 7 more sampling dates (each with 6 samples per treatment). The last one will be the RWC at the end of the experiment. In conclusion you may analize your data with ANOVA.
I hope this helps.
kind regards
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