scholarly journals Screening Pecan Cultivars for Drought Tolerance Using Physiological Parameters

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1129D-1129
Author(s):  
Madhulika Sagaram ◽  
Leonardo Lombardini

Pecan is a riparian species distributed over an area of geographic and climatic variation; such a wide distribution produces exposure to varied environmental conditions, providing a potential for genetic adaptation within the cultivars. Genotypes can be screened in order to obtain more drought tolerant cultivars using indirect screening parameters (chlorophyll fluorescence, osmotic adjustment, and abscisic acid assay) based on physiological responses of plants to abiotic stress conditions. A study was established at Texas A&M University, College Station, using a mixture of fritted clay (Quick dry) and pure sand in 1:1 (by weight) ratio to study the effects of drought on pecan rootstocks. The experiment was set up with the three water potential levels as treatments (–0.033 MPa, –0.1 MPa, –0.3 MPa) in a randomized complete-block design with three blocks. Measurements will include leaf water relations (relative water content, leaf water potential, osmotic adjustments, etc.), gas exchange parameters [net carbon dioxide assimilation rate (A), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (gs)], chlorophyll fluorescence measurements [minimum (Fo), maximum (Fm), and variable fluorescence (Fv), quantum efficiency], water use efficiency, and abscisic acid assay on roots. Statistical analysis systems (SAS) package will be used for analysis. PROC GLM of the SAS will be used for statistical analysis of study involving plant response to water potential levels.

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Vegas Riffle ◽  
Nathaniel Palmer ◽  
L. Federico Casassa ◽  
Jean Catherine Dodson Peterson

Unlike most crop industries, there is a strongly held belief within the wine industry that increased vine age correlates with quality. Considering this perception could be explained by vine physiological differences, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of vine age on phenology and gas exchange parameters. An interplanted, dry farmed, Zinfandel vineyard block under consistent management practices in the Central Coast of California was evaluated over two consecutive growing seasons. Treatments included Young vines (5 to 12 years old), Control (representative proportion of young to old vines in the block), and Old vines (40 to 60 years old). Phenology, leaf water potential, and gas exchange parameters were tracked. Results indicated a difference in phenological progression after berry set between Young and Old vines. Young vines progressed more slowly during berry formation and more rapidly during berry ripening, resulting in Young vines being harvested before Old vines due to variation in the timing of sugar accumulation. No differences in leaf water potential were found. Young vines had higher mid-day stomatal conductance and tended to have higher mid-day photosynthetic rates. The results of this study suggest vine age is a factor in phenological timing and growing season length.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara de Menezes de Assis Gomes ◽  
Ana Maria Magalhães Andrade Lagôa ◽  
Camilo Lázaro Medina ◽  
Eduardo Caruso Machado ◽  
Marcos Antônio Machado

Thirty-month-old 'Pêra' orange trees grafted on 'Rangpur' lemon trees grown in 100 L pots were submitted to water stress by the suspension of irrigation. CO2 assimilation (A), transpiration (E) and stomatal conductance (g s) values declined from the seventh day of stress, although the leaf water potential at 6:00 a.m. (psipd) and at 2:00 p.m. (psi2) began to decline from the fifth day of water deficiency. The CO2 intercellular concentration (Ci) of water-stressed plants increased from the seventh day, reaching a maximum concentration on the day of most severe stress. The carboxylation efficiency, as revealed by the ratio A/Ci was low on this day and did not show the same values of non-stressed plants even after ten days of rewatering. After five days of rewatering only psi pd and psi2 were similar to control plants while A, E and g s were still different. When psi2 decreases, there was a trend for increasing abscisic acid (ABA) concentration in the leaves. Similarly, stomatal conductance was found to decrease as a function of decreasing psi2. ABA accumulation and stomatal closure occurred when psi2 was lower than -1.0 MPa. Water stress in 'Pera´ orange trees increased abscisic acid content with consequent stomatal closure and decreased psi2 values.


2016 ◽  
Vol 88 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 549-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUNO H.P. ROSADO ◽  
EDUARDO A. DE MATTOS

ABSTRACT Among the effects of environmental change, the intensification of drought events is noteworthy, and tropical vegetation is predicted to be highly vulnerable to it. However, it is not clear how tropical plants in drought-prone habitats will respond to this change. In a coastal sandy plain environment, we evaluated the response of six plant species to water deficits across seasons, the relationship between their morpho-physiological traits, and which traits would be the best descriptors of plants' response to drought. Regardless of leaf succulence and phenology, responses between seasons were most strongly related to chlorophyll fluorescence. In this study we have demonstrated that a better comprehension of how tropical species from drought-prone habitats cope with changes in water availability can be based on seasonal variation in leaf water potential and chlorophyll fluorescence. Temporal variation in leaf water potential and chlorophyll fluorescence was found useful for differentiating between groups of sandy soil species that are responsive or unresponsive to water availability. However, chlorophyll fluorescence appeared to be a more sensitive descriptor of their seasonal and short-term responses.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas N. Buckley

SummaryResearch conductedPhotosynthetic capacity per unit irradiance is greater, and the marginal carbon revenue of water (∂A/∂E) is smaller, in shaded leaves than sunlit leaves, apparently contradicting optimization theory. I tested the hypothesis that these patterns arise from optimal carbon partitioning subject to biophysical constraints on leaf water potential.MethodsIn a whole plant model with two canopy modules, I adjusted carbon partitioning, nitrogen partitioning and leaf water potential to maximize carbon profit or canopy photosynthesis, and recorded how gas exchange parameters compared between shaded and sunlit modules in the optimum.Key resultsThe model predicted that photosynthetic capacity per unit irradiance should be larger, and ∂A/∂E smaller, in shaded modules compared to sunlit modules. This was attributable partly to radiation-driven differences in evaporative demand, and partly to differences in hydraulic conductance arising from the need to balance marginal returns on stem carbon investment between modules. The model verified, however, that invariance in the marginal carbon revenue of N (∂A/∂N) is in fact optimal.ConclusionThe Cowan-Farquhar optimality solution (invariance of ∂A/∂E) does not apply to spatial variation within a canopy. The resulting variation in carbon-water economy explains differences in capacity per unit irradiance, reconciling optimization theory with observations.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 1535-1540 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. van Rensburg ◽  
G. H. J. Krüger

The efficacy of various aspects of abscisic acid and proline accumulation as potential selection parameters for drought tolerance in tobacco was evaluated under controlled conditions. The results indicated that both abscisic acid (though being less pronounced) and proline accumulate rapidly after a distinct threshold leaf water potential value has been reached and that probably because of their higher cell wall elasticity (0.23 and 0.28 MPa for the drought-tolerant cultivars GS46 and Elsoma, respectively, compared with 0.39 and 0.31 MPa for the drought-sensitive cultivars TL33 and CDL28, respectively) these threshold leaf water potential values are reached sooner in drought-tolerant cultivars. However, abscisic acid accumulation precedes proline accumulation in both the drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive cultivars. Proline concentrations increased sharply at a leaf water potential of ca. −1.27 MPa in the drought-tolerant cultivars and at a leaf water potential of ca. −1.50 MPa in the drought-sensitive cultivars. At a leaf water potential of −0.77 MPa the abscisic acid concentrations of all four cultivars were already significantly higher than those of their respective controls and were greater in the drought-tolerant cultivars. The leaf water potential value at which abscisic acid and proline start accumulating rapidly and the accumulated proline end concentrations are recommended as selection parameters for drought tolerance in tobacco. Key words: abscisic acid accumulation, cell-wall elasticity, drought stress, Nicotiana tabacum L., proline accumulation, selection parameters.


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