Effects of a Nonionic Surfactant on Growth, Photosynthesis, and Transpiration of New Guinea Impatiens in the Greenhouse1

Abstract Production of quality greenhouse and nursery crops is dependent on high quality and quantities of water. At present, in some regions, insufficient water supply is a growing concern. This study was conducted to evaluate growth of New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkerii u0027Celebrate Salmonu0027), when watered with a polyoxyethylenesorbitan monolaurate (C58H114O26) solution commercially known as Tween 20, at differing irrigation levels compared with a conventional water regimen without the surfactant, and also to determine how Tween 20 would affect photosynthesis and transpiration. The treatment design was a 3 by 6 complete factorial design plus a control. The two factors were irrigation and Tween 20. Irrigation levels of 20%, 40%, or 60% of the full crop evapotranspiration (ET) requirements were used in combination with Tween 20 concentrations of either 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, or 125 mg·L−1 (0, 0.003338, 0.00668, 0.0100145, 0.01335, or 0.01669 oz per gallon). The control group was watered with tap water to ...