scholarly journals Physiological Responses of Contrasting Maize (Zea mays L.) Hybrids to Repeated Drought

Author(s):  
Markus Kränzlein ◽  
Christoph-Martin Geilfus ◽  
Bastian L. Franzisky ◽  
Xudong Zhang ◽  
Monika A. Wimmer ◽  
...  

AbstractMaize is the most important crop worldwide in terms of production and yield, but every year a considerable amount of yield is lost due to drought. The foreseen increase in the number of drought spells due to climate change raises the question whether the ability to recover quickly after a water pulse may be a relevant trait for overall drought resistance. We here address the following hypotheses: (i) different maize hybrids exhibit distinct physiological adaptive responses to drought stress and (ii) these responses affect the ability to recover from the stress. (iii) The relative biomass production of maize hybrids, which show severe drought symptoms but are able to recover quickly after a water pulse, is comparable to those hybrids, which invest more energy into tolerance mechanisms. The physiological responses of eight maize hybrids to repeated drought were elucidated employing physiological parameters such as electrolyte leakage, osmolality, relative water content, growth rate and gas-exchange measurements. Only one hybrid was able to maintain biomass production under drought conditions. Amongst the others, two hybrids with similar growth inhibition but contrasting physiological responses were identified by a PCA analysis. Both strategies, i.e. stabilization of leaf water content via resistance mechanisms versus high recovery potential were equally effective in maintaining aboveground biomass production in the scenario of a long drought intermitted by a water-pulse. However, each strategy might be advantageous under different drought stress scenarios. Overall, the recovery potential is underestimated in drought resistance under natural conditions, which includes periodic cycles of drought and rewatering, and should be considered in screening trials.

2010 ◽  
Vol 135 (6) ◽  
pp. 506-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinmin Fu ◽  
Bingru Huang ◽  
Jack Fry

Effects of deficit irrigation applied to home lawns, used as means of water conservation, are an important issue. However, the impact of deficit irrigation on sucrose metabolism in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is unknown and important because sucrose is the dominant form of carbohydrate transported to developing plant organs. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of deficit irrigation on leaf water content, osmotic potential (ψS), sucrose level, and the activity of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS; EC 2.4.1.14), sucrose synthase (SS; EC 2.4.1.13), and acid invertase (AI; EC 3.2.1.26) in tall fescue leaves. Sods of ‘Falcon II’ tall fescue were established in polyvinylchloride (PVC) tubes (10 cm diameter × 40 cm long) filled with a mixture of sand and fritted clay [9:1 (v:v)] and then placed in growth chambers. Reference evapotranspiration rate [ETo (millimeters of water per day)] was determined by weighing the PVC tubes containing well-watered turfgrass every 3 days to determine water loss on a daily basis as ETo. Deficit irrigation treatments were applied as follows: well-watered control, mild drought stress (60% ETo), and severe drought stress (20% ETo). Leaf water content was lower at 6, 12, and 20 days of treatment for the 20% ETo treatment and 20 days after treatment began for the 60% ETo treatment. Compared with the well-watered control, ψS was lower in the 60% ETo treatment on all three measurement dates. Sucrose was higher at 8 and 14 days after treatment began in the 60% ETo treatment and on all three measurement dates in the 20% ETo treatment relative to the well-watered control. No difference in sucrose level was observed between the 20% ETo and 60% ETo irrigation regimes at 8 and 14 days of treatment. Beginning 14 days after treatment, tall fescue had a higher level of SPS in the 60% ETo and 20% ETo treatments compared with the well-watered treatment. Tall fescue receiving 60% or 20% ETo had a lower level of AI activity on all measurement dates. Results suggest that the decrease in ψS was accompanied by higher sucrose levels, which were the result of the increased level of SPS and SS activity and a decline in AI activity.


HortScience ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 897-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingru Huang ◽  
Hongwen Gao

Drought is among the most limiting factors for turfgrass growth. Understanding genetic variations and physiological mechanisms in turfgrass drought resistance would facilitate breeding and management programs to improve drought resistance. The experiment was designed to investigate shoot physiological responses of six tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) cultivars representing several generations of turfgrass improvement to drought stress. Grasses were grown in well-watered or drying (nonirrigated) soil for 35 days in the greenhouse. Net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (Tr), relative water content (RWC), and photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) declined during drought progression in all cultivars, but the time and the severity of reductions varied with cultivar and physiological factors. The values of Pn, RWC, gs, and Tr decreased significantly for `Rebel Jr', `Bonsai', and `Phoenix' when soil water content declined to 20% after 9 days of treatment (DOT) and for `Houndog V', `Kentucky-31', and `Falcon II' when soil water content dropped to 10% at 15 DOT. A significant decrease in Fv/Fm was not observed in drought-stressed plants until 21 DOT for `Rebel Jr', `Bonsai', and `Phoenix' and 28 DOT for `Houndog V', `Kentucky-31', and `Falcon II'. The decline in Pn resulted mainly from internal water deficit and stomatal closure under mild drought-stress conditions. After a prolonged period of drought stress (35 DOT), `Falcon II', `Houndog V', and `Kentucky-31' maintained higher Pn than did `Rebel Jr', `Bonsai', and `Phoenix', which could be attributed to their higher Fv/Fm. This study demonstrated variation in drought resistance among tall fescue cultivars, which was related to their differential responses in photosynthetic capacity and water relations.


Author(s):  
Pu Zhao ◽  
Jin Wang ◽  
Niran Juntawong ◽  
Chokechai Aekatasanawan ◽  
Prasart Kermanee ◽  
...  

Understanding of the response of tropical and temperate maize (Zea mays L.) to drought is the first step for tolerant temperate maize improvement. Eight maize hybrids were used to investigate physiology responses under drought stress, four of them were tropical maize and the others were temperate maize. Results showed that there were different drought tolerances but similar trends in both tropical maize and temperate maize. Gas exchange parameters revealed different strategies of maize under the stress. In our study, most of the temperate hybrids maintained open stomata to keep a higher photosynthesis rate at the beginning of stress, while the other hybrids decreased stomatal conductance. Compared to temperate maize, the tropical maize had higher antioxidase activity and greater physiological parameter variation among hybrids. KS5731 and ZD309 had stronger drought resistance among tropical and temperate maize hybrids separately. Tolerant hybrids maintained active photosynthesis, have higher osmotic adjustment ability and antioxidase activities but lower malonaldehyde content than the sensitive ones. Our results led to a better understanding of the physiological responses of tropical and temperate maize plants to drought stress and may provide an insight of breeding for drought resistance in maize.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 280
Author(s):  
Diana Saja-Garbarz ◽  
Agnieszka Ostrowska ◽  
Katarzyna Kaczanowska ◽  
Franciszek Janowiak

The aim of this study was to investigate the accumulation of silicon in oilseed rape and to characterize the changes in chosen water balance parameters in response to drought. The following parameters were estimated: water content, osmotic and water potential, evapotranspiration, stomatal conductance and abscisic acid level under optimal and drought conditions. It was shown that oilseed rape plants accumulate silicon after its supplementation to the soil, both in the case of silicon alone and silicon together with iron. It was revealed that silicon (without iron) helps maintain constant water content under optimal conditions. While no silicon influence on osmotic regulation was observed, a transpiration decrease was detected under optimal conditions after silicon application. Under drought, a reduction in stomatal conductance was observed, but it was similar for all plants. The decrease in leaf water content under drought was accompanied by a significant increase in abscisic acid content in leaves of control plants and those treated with silicon together with iron. To sum up, under certain conditions, silicon is accumulated even in non-accumulator species, such as oilseed rape, and presumably improves water uptake under drought stress.


Proteomes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhujia Ye ◽  
Sasikiran Reddy Sangireddy ◽  
Chih-Li Yu ◽  
Dafeng Hui ◽  
Kevin Howe ◽  
...  

Switchgrass plants were grown in a Sandwich tube system to induce gradual drought stress by withholding watering. After 29 days, the leaf photosynthetic rate decreased significantly, compared to the control plants which were watered regularly. The drought-treated plants recovered to the same leaf water content after three days of re-watering. The root tip (1cm basal fragment, designated as RT1 hereafter) and the elongation/maturation zone (the next upper 1 cm tissue, designated as RT2 hereafter) tissues were collected at the 29th day of drought stress treatment, (named SDT for severe drought treated), after one (D1W) and three days (D3W) of re-watering. The tandem mass tags mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics analysis was performed to identify the proteomes, and drought-induced differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs). From RT1 tissues, 6156, 7687, and 7699 proteins were quantified, and 296, 535, and 384 DAPs were identified in the SDT, D1W, and D3W samples, respectively. From RT2 tissues, 7382, 7255, and 6883 proteins were quantified, and 393, 587, and 321 proteins DAPs were identified in the SDT, D1W, and D3W samples. Between RT1 and RT2 tissues, very few DAPs overlapped at SDT, but the number of such proteins increased during the recovery phase. A large number of hydrophilic proteins and stress-responsive proteins were induced during SDT and remained at a higher level during the recovery stages. A large number of DAPs in RT1 tissues maintained the same expression pattern throughout drought treatment and the recovery phases. The DAPs in RT1 tissues were classified in cell proliferation, mitotic cell division, and chromatin modification, and those in RT2 were placed in cell wall remodeling and cell expansion processes. This study provided information pertaining to root zone-specific proteome changes during drought and recover phases, which will allow us to select proteins (genes) as better defined targets for developing drought tolerant plants. The mass spectrometry proteomics data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD017441.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Alireza Motallebi-Azar ◽  
István Papp ◽  
Anita Szegő

Dehydrins are proteins that play a role in the mechanism of drought tolerance. This study aimed at establishing dehydrin profile and accumulation in four local melon varieties of Iran: Mino, Dargazi, Saveii, and Semsori, as well as in a commercial variety Honeydew. Plants were treated with drought stress by adjusting the soil water content to 75, 50, 40, 30 and 20% of field capacity (FC) by withholding water. Water status of plants was monitored based on the seedling fresh weight (FW) and relative water content of leaves (RWC). Total protein content was extracted, then heat-stable protein (HSP) fraction was isolated for each variety and water stress treatment. After SDS-PAGE of HSP, Western blotting analysis was carried out with Anti-dehydrin rabbit (primary) and Goat anti rabbit (secondary) antibodies. ANOVA results showed that with decreasing FC below 75%, FW and RWC decreased, but these changes significantly varied among genotypes. On the basis of FW and RWC data under different drought stress treatments, the following drought-tolerant ranking was established: Mino > Dargazi > Saveii and Honeydew > Semsori, from tolerant to sensitive order. Results of Western blot analysis showed that expression of some proteins with molecular weights of 19–52 kDa was induced in the studied varieties under drought stress (% FC). Expression level of the dehydrin proteins in different varieties was variable and also depending on the drought stress level applied. However, dehydrin proteins (45 and 50 kDa) showed strong expression levels in all varieties under severe drought stress (20% FC). The abundance of dehydrin proteins was higher in tolerant varieties (Mino and Dargazi) than in moderate and drought sensitive genotypes. Consequently, dehydrins represent a potential marker for selection of genotypes with enhanced drought tolerance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhang Liu ◽  
Zhongqun He ◽  
Yongdong Xie ◽  
Lihong Su ◽  
Ruijie Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the growth, physiological changes and mechanism of drought resistance of Phedimus aizoon L. under different levels of water content .CK: 75% ~ 80% of the MWHC (maximum water holding capacity), Mild drought: 55% ~ 60%, Moderate drought: 40% ~ 45%, Severe drought: 20% ~ 25%.We observed that the plants grew normally in the first two treatments, even the mild drought promoted the growth of the roots. In the last two treatments, drought stress had a significant negative effect on plant growth, at the same time, Phedimus aizoon L. also made positive physiological response to cope with the drought: The aboveground part of the plant (leaf, plant height, stem diameter) was smaller, the waxy layer of the leaves was thickened, the stomata of the leaves were closed during the day, and only a few stomata were opened at night, which proved that the dark reaction cycle metabolism mode of the plant was transformed from C3 cycle to CAM pathway. The activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD and CAT) was continuously increased to alleviate the damage caused by drought. To ensure the relative stability of osmotic potential, the contents of osmoregulation substances such as proline, soluble sugar, soluble protein and trehalose increased correspondingly. But plants have limited regulatory power, with aggravation of drought stress degree and extension of stress time, the MDA content and electrolyte leakage of leaves increased continuously. Observed under electron microscope,the morphology of chloroplast and mitochondria changed and the membrane structure was destroyed. The plant's photosynthetic and respiratory mechanisms are destroyed and the plant gradually die.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 793
Author(s):  
Juanli Chen ◽  
Xueyong Zhao ◽  
Yaqiu Zhang ◽  
Yuqiang Li ◽  
Yongqing Luo ◽  
...  

Artemisia halodendron is a widely distributed native plant in China’s Horqin sandy land, but few studies have examined its physiological responses to drought and rehydration. To provide more information, we investigated the effects of drought and rehydration on the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and physiological responses of A. halodendron to reveal the mechanisms responsible for A. halodendron’s tolerance of drought stress and the resulting ability to tolerate drought. We found that A. halodendron had strong drought resistance. Its chlorophyll content first increased and then decreased with prolonged drought. Variable chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv) and quantum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm) decreased, and the membrane permeability and malondialdehyde increased. When plants were subjected to drought stress, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity degraded under severe drought, but the activities of peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) and the contents of soluble proteins, soluble sugars, and free proline increased. Severe drought caused wilting of A. halodendron leaves and the leaves failed to recover even after rehydration. After rehydration, the chlorophyll content, membrane permeability, SOD and CAT activities, and the contents of the three osmoregulatory substances under moderate drought began to recover. However, Fv, Fv/Fm, malondialdehyde, and POD activity did not recover under severe drought. These results illustrated that drought tolerance of A. halodendron resulted from increased enzyme (POD and CAT) activities and accumulation of osmoregulatory substances.


2011 ◽  
Vol 90-93 ◽  
pp. 3262-3267
Author(s):  
Wen Yuan Xu ◽  
Long Sun ◽  
Li Qiang Mu

The drought resistance adaptation mechanism of highway greening plants was always the focal point which the researcher payed attention. This experiment took Cornus alba as the study object and examines its resistance to drought stress by using the potting and water control method. The researcher measured bond water content, water saturation deficit, relevant water content, relevant content of osmotic water, and osmotic potential when full turgor and turgor were both zero. Other water condition indexes also were analyzed systematically. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation on the drought resistance of Cornus alba by fuzzy mathematics’ anti-membership function was conducted. According to the experiment result, Cornus alba had the highest drought resistance at B-level treatment (soil water content: 53.60%), followed by D-level (soil water content: 29.90%) treatment. Cornus alba had strong endurance and resistance to drought stress. This study could provide a scientific basis for the future introduction of other urban greenbelt plants and the choice of excellent traits.


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