Effect of bark stripping on the electrical impedance of Quercus suber leaves

This study examined the effect of bark stripping on the electrical impedance parameters of cork oak young leaves between 40Hz and 100 kHz. This was a new application of the electrical impedances spectroscopy (EIS) in plant science. Various stripping coefficients (CD) were applied on the trees. Bark stripping is expected to affect water metabolism of leaves and therefore changes in the EIS parameters are expected as well. Single-DCE (ZARC) model was used as equivalent circuit for leaves. Several electrophysiological parameters of this model were compared with moisture content (MC) of the leaves. Intracellular resistance (Ri), extracellular resistance (Re) and relaxation time (τ) of the leaves increased during 14 days after stripping while the distributed coefficient (Ψ) and MC decreased. Significant correlation between EIS parameters, MC and trees treatments were found.