Tritium Collection and Extraction Techniques for Plant‐Water Relationship Studies

Techniques are described for quantitatively determining water movement and loss in pricklypear plants with tritiated water. Transpired vapor from plants which were injected with tritium was collected with a system that passed dry air over the pad surface and into collecting vials. Water was extracted from tissue samples by a modified freeze—drying technique. Combustion of tissue samples following extraction showed that the method was efficient for tritiated water recovery from the plant material when the extraction time was 8 hours and a warm—water bath temperature of 55°C was maintained.