Haloxylon ammodendron, Calligonum mongolicum, Elaeagnus angustifolia, and Populus hosiensis had different adaptations to limited water availability, high temperature, and high irradiance. C. mongolicum used water more efficiently than did the other species. Because of low transpiration rate (E) and low water potential, H. ammodendron had low water loss suitable for desert conditions. Water use efficiency (WUE) was high in E. angustifolia, but high E and larger leaf area made this species more suitable for mesic habitats; consequently, this species is important in tree shelterbelts. P. hosiensis had low WUE, E, and photosynthesis rates, and therefore, does not prosper in arid areas without irrigation. High irradiances caused photoinhibition of the four plants. The decrease of photochemical efficiency was a possible non-stomata factor for the midday depression of C. mongolicum. However, the species exhibited different protective mechanisms against high irradiance under drought stress. H. ammodendron and C. mongolicum possessed a more effective antioxidant defence system than E. angustifolia. These three species showed different means of coping with oxidative stress. Hence an enzymatic balance is maintained in these plants under adverse stress conditions, and the concerted action of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactive oxygen species scavenging mechanisms is vital to survive adverse conditions. and J. R. Gong ... [et al.].
Among various epiphytic ferns found in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, we studied Vittaria lineata (L.) Smith (Polypodiopsida, Pteridaceae). Anatomical characterization of the leaf was carried out by light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. V. lineata possesses succulent leaves with two longitudinal furrows on the abaxial surface. We observed abundant stomata inside the furrows, glandular trichomes, paraphises, and sporangia. We examined malate concentrations in leaves, relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic pigments, and chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence in control, water-deficient, and abscisic acid (ABA)-treated plants. Plants subjected to drought stress (DS) and treated by exogenous ABA showed significant increase in the malate concentration, demonstrating nocturnal acidification. These findings suggest that V. lineata could change its mode of carbon fixation from C3 to the CAM pathway in response to drought. No significant changes in RWC were observed among treatments. Moreover, although plants subjected to stress treatments showed a significant decline in the contents of Chl a and b, the concentrations of carotenoids were stable. Photosynthetic parameters obtained from rapid light curves showed a significant decrease after DS and ABA treatments., B. D. Minardi, A. P. L. Voytena, M. Santos, Á. M. Randi., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Midday measurements of single leaf gas exchange rates of upper canopy leaves of soybeans grown in the field at 350 (AC) and 700 (EC) µmol(CO2) mol-1 in open topped chambers sometimes indicated up to 50 % higher net photosynthetic rates (PN) measured at EC in plants grown at AC compared to EC. On other days mean PN were nearly identical in the two growth [CO2] treatments. There was no seasonal pattern to the variable photosynthetic responses of soybean to growth [CO2]. Even on days with significantly lower PN in the plants grown at EC, there was no reduction in ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, chlorophyll, or soluble protein contents per unit of leaf area. Over three years, gas exchange evidence of acclimation occurred on days when either soil was dry or the water vapor pressure deficit was high (n = 12 d) and did not occur on days after rain or on days with low water vapor pressure deficit (n = 9 d). On days when photosynthetic acclimation was evident, midday leaf water potentials were consistently 0.2 to 0.3 MPa lower for the plants grown at EC than at AC. This suggested that greater susceptibility to water stress in plants grown at EC cause the apparent photosynthetic acclimation. In other experiments, plants were grown in well-watered pots in field chambers and removed to the laboratory early in the morning for gas exchange measurements. In these experiments, the amount of photosynthetic acclimation evident in the gas exchange measurements increased with the maximum water vapor pressure deficit on the day prior to the measurements, indicating a lag in the recovery of photosynthesis from water stress. The apparent increase in susceptibility to water stress in soybean plants grown at EC is opposite to that observed in some other species, where photosynthetic acclimation was evident under wet but not dry conditions, and may be related to the observation that hydraulic conductance is reduced in soybeans when grown at EC. The day-to-day variation in photosynthetic acclimation observed here may account for some of the conflicting results in the literature concerning the existence of acclimation to EC in field-grown plants. and J. A. Bunce, R. C. Sicher.
Seedlings of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba were grown on Petri dishes either in water or water plus 3 % PEG-6000 to induce water stress. The senescing cotyledons experiencing the stress exhibited loss in contents of leaf proteins and chlorophyll (Chl) and a decline in oxygen evolution. The effect of PEG treatment was more pronounced at moderate (MI) than low (LI) irradiance. The stress-induced loss in the activity of superoxide dismutase and increase in the thylakoid lipid peroxidation accompanied a change in the physical status of the bilayer membrane as demonstrated by an enhancement of room temperature Chl a fluorescence polarization and decrease in energy transfer efficiency in pigment assembly. This resulted in a sustained decrease in photosystem 2 activity blocking channels of energy utilization. The absorbed quanta, thus unutilized, were excess even at MI, leading to photoinhibitory response. and P. M. Deo, U. C. Biswal, B. Biswal.
Responses to drought were studied using two maize inbred lines (B76 and B106) and a commercial maize hybrid (Zea mays L. cv. Silver Queen) with differing resistance to abiotic stress. Maize seedlings were grown in pots in controlled environment chambers for 17 days and watering was withheld from one half the plants for an additional 11 days. On the final treatment date, leaf water potentials did not differ among genotypes and were -0.84 and -1.49 MPa in the water sufficient and insufficient treatments, respectively. Greater rates of CO2 assimilation were retained by the stress tolerant maize inbred line, B76, in comparison to the other two genotypes 11 days after watering was withheld. Rates of CO2 assimilation for all three genotypes were unaffected by decreasing the measurement O2 concentration from 21 to 2% (v/v). Activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME), and NADP malate dehydrogenase were inhibited from 25 to 49% by the water deficiency treatment. Genotypic differences also were detected for the activities of NADP-ME and for PEPC. Changes of transcript abundance for the three C4 pathway enzymes also varied among watering treatments and genotypes. However, examples where transcripts decreased due to drought were associated with the two stress susceptible genotypes. The above results showed that enzymes in the C4 photosynthetic pathway were less inhibited by drought in stress tolerant compared to stress susceptible maize genotypes., R. Sicher, J. Bunce, J. Barnaby, B. Bailey., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Effects of water and nitrogen (N) supply on growth and photosynthetic response of B. carinata were examined in this study. Plant growth and related characteristics varied significantly in response to the availability of water and nitrogen. B. carinata maximized the utilization efficiency of the most limiting resources by developing physiological adaptations, such as changes in root and leaf development. The utilization of water and N was tightly linked with the availability of each resource. Instantaneous water-use efficiency (WUE) was always greater in plants with high-N nutrition [50, 100, and 150 kg(N) ha-1] than in the low-N-treated plants
[0 kg(N) ha-1] in all watering treatments. Instantaneous N-use efficiency (PNUE) decreased significantly with increasing water stress in all N treatments. Seed yield is significantly related to PNUE (p>0.05) but not WUE (p<0.05). The positive relationship between leaf net photosynthetic rate (PN) and seed yield suggests that PN can be used as an important tool for selection of new strains with high seed yield. and X. Pan ... [et al.].
Environmental conditions that promote photorespiration are considered to be a major driving force for the evolution of C4 species from C3 ancestors. The genus Flaveria contains C3 and C4 species as well as a variety of intermediate species. In this study, we compare the water-use efficiency of intermediate Flaveria species to that of C3 and C4 species. The results indicate that under both well-watered and a drought-stress condition, C3-C4 and C4-like intermediacy in Flaveria species improve water-use efficiency as compared to C3 species. and M. C. Dias, W. Brüggemann.
The carbon dioxide concentrating system in C4 photosynthesis allows high net photosynthetic rates (PN) at low internal carbon dioxide concentrations (Ci), permitting higher PN relative to stomatal conductance (gs) than in C3 plants. This relation would be reflected in the ratio of Ci to external ambient (Ca) carbon dioxide concentration, which is often given as 0.3 or 0.4 for C4 plants. For a Ca of 360 µmol mol-1 that would mean a Ci about 110-140 µmol mol-1. Our field observations made near midday on three weedy C4 species, Amaranthus retroflexus, Echinochloa crus-galli, and Setaria faberi, and the C4 crop Sorghum bicolor indicated mean values of Ci of 183-212 µ mol mol-1 at Ca = 360 µmol mol-1. Measurements in two other C4 crop species grown with three levels of N fertilizer indicated that while midday values of Ci at high photon flux were higher at limiting N, even at high nitrogen Ci averaged 212 and 196 µmol mol-1 for Amaranthus hypochondriacus and Zea mays, respectively. In these two crops midday Ci decreased with increasing leaf to air water vapor pressure difference. Averaged over all measurement days, the mean Ci across all C4 species was 198 µmol mol-1, for a Ci/Ca ratio of 0.55. Prior measurements on four herbaceous C3 species using the same instrument indicated an average Ci/Ca ratio of 0.69. Hence midday Ci values in C4 species under field conditions may often be considerably higher and more similar to those of C3 species than expected from measurements made on plants in controlled environments. Reducing gs in C4 crops at low water vapor pressure differences could potentially improve their water use efficiency without decreasing PN.
High temperature is a common constraint during anthesis and grain-filling stages of wheat leading to huge losses in yield. In order to understand the mechanism of heat tolerance during monocarpic senescence, the present study was carried out under field conditions by allowing two well characterized Triticum aestivum L. cultivars differing in heat tolerance, Hindi62 (heat-tolerant) and PBW343 (heat-susceptible), to suffer maximum heat stress under late sown conditions. Senescence was characterized by measuring photosynthesis related processes and endoproteolytic activity during non-stress environment (NSE) as well as heat-stress environment (HSE). There was a faster rate of senescence under HSE in both the genotypes. Hindi62, having pale yellow flag leaf with larger area, maintained cooler canopy under high temperatures than PBW343. The tolerance for high temperature in Hindi62 was clearly evident in terms of slower green-leaf area degradation, higher stomatal conductance, higher stability in maximum PSII efficiency, Rubisco activity and Rubisco content than PBW343. Both the genotypes exhibited lower endopeptidase activity under HSE as compared to NSE and this difference was more apparent in Hindi62. Serine proteases are the predominant proteases responsible for protein degradation under NSE as well as HSE. Flag leaf of both the genotypes exhibited high-molecular-mass endoproteases (78 kDa and 67 kDa) isoforms up to full grain maturity which were inhibited by specific serine protease inhibitor in both the environments. In conclusion, the heat-tolerant Hindi62 exhibited a slower rate of senescence than the heat-susceptible PBW343 during HSE, which may contribute towards heat stability. and S. Chauhan ... [et al.].