while the plants under the protective environment have limited water loss because of relatively high ambient RH. It is not clear, however, as to whether this plays a role in limiting root growth under the protective environment. When tender plants are exposed to normal conditions in a growth chamber, their growth, as indicated by shoot and root biomass and leaf area, is adversely affected compared with those continuously growing under growth chamber conditions. After 7 d of growth under the unprotective conditions, there was a large disparity in shoot biomass and particularly in root growth characteristics in these two groups of plants