Reduction of evaporation fluxes due to antitranspirant effect checked by infrared thermography

Infrared thermography can be used as a tool for evaluating antitranspirant treatment through the measurement of evaporative fluxes. The aim of this work is to compare the leaf surface temperatures of plant treated with chitosan (CHT), a potential stomatal-closing antitranspirant, with temperatures of leaves treated with the commercially available antitranspirant Vapor Gard®, a film-forming polyterpene. The main problem in the correct evaluation of stomatal conductance at leaf level is due to the need of performing a measurement in a completely non-invasive method. The main advantage of thermographic method is the possibility to acquire information about instantaneous conditions of transpiration over a large number of plants, with no need of sampling and avoiding any contact with plants. Tests on bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) showed the applicability of the thermal imaging to discriminate plants with different evaporation rate due to treatment with different antitranspirant compounds. Quantitative evaluation of evaporative flux and stomatal conductance was obtained through reference measurements on standards with calibrated conductance. Non-destructive gravimetric measurements were used in order to get a reliable evaluation of evaporative fluxes. In conclusion, thermographic approach, in climatic chamber, seems to be a valid tool for rapidly screening the performance of different antitranspirant products.