PLANT WATER STATUS
The tree water status was determined by simultaneous measurements of water potential (Ψw) and leaf water content (LWC) in 5 fully expanded leaves from the selected tree. Each excised leaf was immediately put inside zip pouch for Ψw measurement. Water Potential Monitoring System (WP4 & WP4-T Dewpoint Meters, Decagon Devices) was used for determination of Leaf water potential (Turner, 1981). Preliminary experiments were carried out to find the minimum equilibration time required. After equilibration of sample a disc was taken from mid portion of leaf and Ψw was measured. Standard solution of known water potential (Ψw) was always run with samples and values corrected to a temperature of 25oC.