Vol. 35 – 2009 - Ecologia Mediterranea - Université d'Avignon et des ...

Effects of hydro-edaphic environment
on the rooting of date palm
(Phoenix dactylifera L.) Deglet Noor
in the Ouargla Basin (south-east algeria)
Effets de l’environnement hydro-édaphique
dans la cuvette d’Ouargla sur l’enracinement du palmier dattier
(Phoenix dactylifera L.) Déglet Nour (sud-est algérien)
Abstract
During the last decade, the Ouargla basin went
through a problem of groundwater rise that
had prejudicial consequences on the oasis environment.
We studied the impact of hydroedaphic
environment on root systems of the
Deglet Noor date palm in the date-producing
areas of Ouargla basin.
The results indicated that 53.9% of date-producing
farms showed a water table depth
between 29 and 119.4 cm. Root distribution of
date palms 80 cm far from the trunk showed
that 56.9% of the palm plantations exhibit a
rooting depth between 27 and 119 cm, including
3% of which is caused by the gypseous and
gypseous-calcareous crusts alone, 10.8% of
which is caused by the water table combined
with the gypseous and gypseous-calcareous
crusts and finally 43.1% of which caused by the
Keywords: date palm, gypseous crust, root
system, water table.
ecologia mediterranea – Vol. 35 – 2009
Mustapha DADDI BOUHOUN 1 , Louhichi BRINIS 2 ,
Mohamed Lakhdar SAKER 1 , Marc COTE 3 and Jacques RABIER 4
1. Université Kasdi Merbah de Ouargla
Laboratoire de protection des écosystèmes en zones arides et semi-arides
BP 163, Ouargla 30000 Algérie
Tél. : (00) 213 75 15 42 03 ; Fax : (00) 213 29 71 59 08 ; E-mail : daddibm@yahoo.fr,
Sakermohamedlakhdar@yahoo.fr
2. Université Badji Mokhtar de Annaba, Département de biologie
BP 12 Annaba 23000 Algérie
Tél. : (00) 213 71 31 03 90 ; Fax : (00) 213 38 87 54 00 ; E-mail : lbrinis@yahoo.fr
3. Université de Provence, UFR des Sciences géographiques et de l’aménagement
29, avenue Robert-Schuman, 13621 Aix-en-Provence cedex 1
Tél./Fax : (33) 4 90 77 60 31, E-mail : marc.cote@neuf.fr
4. Université de Provence, Institut méditerranéen d’écologie et de paléoécologie,
UMR 6116 CNRS IRD IMEP, case 97, 3 place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille cedex 3 France
Tél. : (33) 4 91 10 63 17 ; Fax : (33) 4 91 11 61 62 ;
E-mail : Jacques.Rabier@univ-provence.fr
water table. Electric conductivity of groundwater
varied from 10 to 39.7 dS.m -1 . The correlation
analysis confirmed that lower water table
depths and, gypseous and gypseous-calcareous
crusts caused a decrease in the root system
depth. Roots avoided both water saturation
zone and mechanical resistance in the crusts,
causing them to develop in the side direction.
Salinity of groundwater proved to be less important
to rooting of the date palm compared to
level of the ground water.
Résumé
La cuvette d’Ouargla a connu durant cette dernière
décennie un problème de remontée de la
nappe phréatique. Cela a eu des conséquences
préjudiciables sur l’environnement oasien. Nous
avons étudié l’impact de l’environnement
Mots clés : croûtes gypseuses, nappe phréatique,
palmier dattier, système racinaire.
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