Performance of Leucaena leucocephala and Albizia lebbeck trees under low irrigation water in the field

Growth of Leucaena leucocephala and Albizia lebbeck trees was investigated under low water supply in the field using a complete randomized block design at the Research and Experiments Station of the College of Food Science and Agriculture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The trees were irrigated at either 160 (well water supply) or 500 mm (low water supply) of a class "A" evaporation-pan records for two years. Differences were occurred between L. leucocephala and A. lebbeck trees across irrigation treatments with greater values for L. leucocephala in most of the growth characteristics measured. Comparing with L. leucocephala, leaves of A. lebbeck comprises only small proportion of the total weight of tree while allocated equal proportions to their branches and roots (41%).while L. leucocephala trees allocated almost similar proportions to their branches, stem and roots (27-28%). Low water supply decreased stem by 19.5% with stem diameter was unaffected. Leaf, branches, stem, root and consequently total dry weight of the trees decreases by 42, 51.5, 45, 51 and 94% in low water supply. However, the performance of L. leucocephala and A. lebbeck trees endured low irrigation conditions in terms of survival and maintaining reasonable growth.Corresponding Author: Prof. Ibrahim Mohammed Aref Plant Production Department, College of Food Science and Agriculture, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460 Riyadh 11451 Saudi Arabia. Email: iaref@ksu.edu.s