TO STUDY THE MECHANISMS OF STRESS TOLERANCE AND GROWTH OF EUCALYPTUS OF DIFFERENT GENETIC ORIGINS IN ORDER TO DEFINE IDEOTYPES AND SELECT SUPERIOR GENOTYPES FOR WOOD PRODUCTION.

PARTICULAR ATTENTION WILL BE GIVEN TO GROWTH OF PLANT PARTS UNDER STRESS CONDITIONS. THE WATER RELATIONS AND GROWTH OF SEEDLINGS AND VEGETATIVELY-PROPAGATED PLANT MATERIAL OF DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL SEED PROVENANCES WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE COMPARISON OF IRRIGATED AND PLANTS SUBJECTED TO WATER STRESS WILL ENABLE US TO OBTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT ON GROWTH AND PHYSIOLOGY.
PARTICULAR INTEREST WILL BE THE VARIATIONS IN WATER RELATIONS AND CELL WALL PROPERTIES OF BOOTH ROOTS AND SHOOTS. DETAILED MEASUREMENTS OF GROWTH OF INDIVIDUAL ORGANS WILL BE DONE AND RELATED TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED VARIABLES. MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS OF SHOOT AND ROOT GROWTH WILL BE CONDUCTED IN GREENHOUSE AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS.