Evidence for Osmotic Adjustment in Phalaris tuberosa L. cvv. Australian and Sirosa

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 481 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.Y Sambo ◽  
M.J Aston

The temperate pasture grass Phalaris tuberosa L. (cvv. Australian and Sirosa) was grown in soil under glasshouse conditions. When water was withheld, leaf xylem potential (�) decreased at the rate of 0.02 and 0.05 MPa per day in cvv. Australian and Sirosa, respectively, between 7 and 17 days, and reached a dawn value -0.25 (� 0.02) MPa and -0.56 (�0.08) MPa in the respective cultivars. These plants were moderately stressed. Between 17 and 23 days, when the experiment was terminated, stress developed more rapidly and � at dawn reached final values of -2.1 (�0.09) and -2.2 (�0.08) MPa in Australian and Sirosa phalaris, respectively. These plants were severely stressed. The leaf osmotic potential (��) decreased at similar rates as � in the stressed plants, thus maintaining the turgor potential (�*p) relatively constant with increasing water stress. Osmotic adjustment (��100/�) was judged by comparing �� at full turgor (�100/�) in stressed plants which had been rewetted, with �100/� of control unstressed plants. ��100/� of moderately stressed plants was 0.46 and 0.48 MPa in Australian and Sirosa phalaris, respectively. In severely stressed plants, the respective ��100/� values were 0.67 and 0.85 MPa.

1992 ◽  
Vol 117 (5) ◽  
pp. 816-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongchun Wang ◽  
Gary W. Stutte

Greenhouse grown 2-year-old potted `Jonathan' apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) were subjected to various levels of water stress in February. Midday leaf water potential (ψW), leaf osmotic potential (ψS), soluble sugars, and starch contents of mature leaves were measured throughout the development of water stress to determine whether active osmotic adjustment could be detected and whether carbohydrates were involved. Active adjustments of 0.6 MPa were observed 3 and 5 days, respectively, after water stress was initiated. Leaf turgor potential (ψP) could not be maintained through the osmotic adjustment when ψW dropped below -1.6 MPa. Sorbitol, glucose, and fructose concentrations increased while sucrose and starch levels decreased significantly as water stress developed, strongly suggesting that sugar alcohol and monosaccharide are the most important osmotica for adjustment. Sorbitol was a primary carbohydrate in the cell sap and accounted for > 50% of total osmotic adjustment. The partitioning of newly fixed W-labeled photosynthates in mature leaves was not affected by water stress immediately after the 30-min 14CO2 treatment. All the W-labeled carbohydrates decreased in the labeled leaves very rapidly after 14CO2 labeling. The decrease in 14C-sorbitol was greater than the decrease in other carbohydrates under both well-watered and stressed conditions. After 24 hours of water stress, however, the percentage of 14C-sorbitol increased while the percentages of sucrose, starch, glucose, and fructose decreased significantly with increasing levels of stress. The ratio of 14C-sorbitol in leaves with ψW = -3.5 MPa to leaves with ψW = -0.5 MPa was significantly higher than that of 14C-sucrose, 14C-glucose, W-fructose, or 14C-starch.


1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 659 ◽  
Author(s):  
SP Robinson ◽  
GP Jones

Glycinebetaine was determined in leaves and in isolated chloroplasts of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Some leakage of glycinebetaine from the chloroplasts occurred during the isolation so the concentration in chloroplasts in vivo could be up to 1.5 times higher than that measured in isolated chloroplasts. It was demonstrated that any contamination of the chloroplast preparations by glycinebetaine originating from other cellular compartments or from broken chloroplasts would have amounted to less than 10% of the measured values. Leaf osmotic potential of salt-stressed plants was -2.09 MPa compared to -0.91 MPa in non-stressed controls. This was accompanied by a sixfold increase in glycinebetaine content in the leaf but the levels of choline and proline were not increased. In chloroplasts isolated from control leaves the calculated glycinebetaine concentration was 26 mM which was 10-fold higher than the concentration in the leaf as a whole but only contributed 7% of the osmotic potential of the chloroplast. Chloroplasts from salt-stressed plants contained up to 300 mM glycinebetaine which was 20 times the concentration in the leaf as a whole. The glycinebetaine concentration in chloroplasts from salt-stressed leaves was equivalent to an osmotic potential of -0.75 MPa and this contributed 36% of the osmotic potential of the chloroplast and 64% of the decrease in osmotic potential induced by salt stress. At least 30-40% of the total leaf glycinebetaine was localized in the chloroplast. The results demonstrate that glycinebetaine accumulates in chloroplasts to provide osmotic adjustment during salt stress and provide support for the hypothesis that glycinebetaine is a compatible cytoplasmic solute which may be preferentially located in the cytoplasm of cells.


1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 669 ◽  
Author(s):  
BP Naidu ◽  
GP Jones ◽  
LG Paleg ◽  
A Poljakoff-Mayber

Fifteen species of Melaleuca and two species of Callistemon from the field were examined to determine whether they accumulated nitrogen-containing compatible solutes and, if so, which. In addition to L-proline, N-methyl-L-proline (MP) (isolated for the first time from plants), trans-4-hydroxy-N-methyl- L-proline (MHP), and N, N'-dimethyl-trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline (DHP) were found in various combinations in the 15 Melaleuca species. M. lanceolata seedlings were subjected to water or salinity stress and M. uncinata to water stress under laboratory conditions. In both species significant reductions in leaf water potential (Ψw), osmotic potential (Ψs), turgor potential (Ψp), and relative water content (RWC) were observed in response to water stress. Salinised M. lanceolata plants showed considerable osmotic adjustment and maintained Ψp comparable to that of control plants; salinity, however, decreased RWC. In response to the imposed stresses under laboratory conditions, proline and MHP levels in M. lanceolata, and MHP and DHP levels in M. uncinata, increased. In addition to possible protective or osmotic roles in vivo, these proline analogues may be useful in chemotaxonomic investigations of Melaleuca species.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 1681-1688 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Tschaplinski ◽  
T. J. Blake

Organic solute concentrations of five hybrid poplar cultivars were compared to determine the relationship between water-stress tolerance, tissue solute concentration, and growth rate under field conditions. In the expanding foliage of the faster growing Populus deltoides Bartr. × P. balsamifera L. (Jackii 4), the saturated osmotic potential and turgor loss point osmotic potential were 0.18 MPa and 0.47 MPa lower, respectively, than in the slower growing P. deltoides × P. balsamifera (Jackii 7). The expanding foliage of Jackii 4 had higher (ca. 50%) concentrations of organic solutes, attributable mainly to salicyl alcohol, salicin, sucrose, and an unidentified compound. The coupling of high productivity and stress tolerance in Jackii 4 suggests that these may be compatible rather than competing attributes. Water-stress studies on P. deltoides Bartr. × P. nigra L. (DN 22) under greenhouse conditions demonstrated that stressed trees accumulated 4 times the soluble sugar concentrations of well-watered trees, lowering the saturated osmotic potential by 0.55 MPa and turgor loss point osmotic potential by 1.0 MPa. Leaves were the primary site of osmotic adjustment to water stress and roots showed no adjustment. The use of repeated drying cycles in planting stock may aid survival of postplanting stress in species capable of osmotic adjustment. The relationship between stress tolerance and solute concentrations in the greenhouse water-stress study paralleled that of the field study.


1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
MM Jones ◽  
NC Turner

Sunflower plants were grown in large volumes of soil and slowly water-stressed by withholding water. The tissue water relationships of leaves at various stages of stress and of leaves of equivalent well watered controls were studied by the pressure chamber technique. Plants were stressed either when leaf 17 was expanding or when it was fully expanded. When expanding leaves reached a moderate level of stress (predawn leaf water potential of -0.9 MPa), the osmotic potentials at full turgor and zero turgor were lower than the control values by 0.1 MPa and 0.2 MPa, respectively. When fully expanded leaves were stressed to a similar degree (predawn leaf water potential of - 1.1 MPa), the osmotic potentials at full turgor and zero turgor were lower than the control values by 0.2 MPa and 0.3 MPa, respectively. The development of more severe stress in the fully expanded leaves was not accompanied by any further osmotic adjustment. However, when the expanding leaves reached a predawn leaf water potential of -2.3 MPa, the values of leaf osmotic potential at full turgor and zero turgor were lower than the values for the well watered plants by 0.4 MPa and 0.6 MPa, respectively. In expanding leaves prestressed to a predawn leaf water potential of -2.3 MPa, the osmotic potential at full turgor was significantly less than the control values for at least 7 days after rewatering. Stress had no effect on the bulk modulus of elasticity. It is concluded that both expanding and fully expanded sunflower leaves show osmotic adjustment.


1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen G. Good ◽  
James L. Maclagan

The physiological responses of different species of Brassica to induced drought stress were studied by analysing the relationships between relative water content, leaf water potential and leaf osmotic potential during the onset of drought stress. These data indicate that while there was a decrease in leaf osmotic potential with the onset of drought stress, this did not result from a net increase in solutes. Therefore, these genotypes of Brassica do not appear able to osmoregulate under these drought conditions. Key words: Brassica, drought, osmoregulation, water stress


1995 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Tangpremsri ◽  
S Fukai ◽  
KS Fischer

From 47 S2 lines which had been extracted from a random mated population of sorghum, eight lines for a glasshouse experiment and four lines for a field experiment were divergently selected for variation in osmotic adjustment, and were grouped into two, High and Low osmotic adjustment (OA). Both the glasshouse and field experiments examined whether osmotic adjustment modified the plants' response to soil water deficit and also whether grain sink demand for assimilates, varied by removal of 50% spikelets, affected osmotic adjustment. In each experiment, there were well-watered control and water stress treatments. In both experiments, the dawn osmotic potential in the High OA group was always lower than in the Low OA group under water limiting conditions, and the difference was significant after anthesis. The difference in osmotic potential was about 0.1 MPa in the field and up to 0.25 MPa in the glasshouse. In the glasshouse experiment, removal of 50% spikelets at anthesis significantly decreased osmotic potential during grain filling, suggesting that osmotic adjustment is influenced by the availability of assimilates in the leaves. Under well-watered conditions, the two groups behaved very similarly in terms of maximum leaf area, green leaf area retention during grain filling, total dry matter production, grain yield and grain number in both experiments. Under water-limiting conditions, the High OA group produced larger maximum leaf area and had better leaf retention during grain filling. Despite similar water use, total dry matter was also significantly higher in the High OA group though the difference was small. Grain number was also greater in this group in both experiments, whereas grain yield was significantly higher in the High OA group in the field, but not in the glasshouse where severe water stress developed more rapidly. It is concluded that the adverse effect of water stress can be reduced by adopting sorghum genotypes with high osmotic adjustment. However, selection for high osmotic adjustment needs to ensure that osmotic adjustment is not solely due to small head size.


1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 597 ◽  
Author(s):  
NC Turner ◽  
JE Begg ◽  
ML Tonnet

The soil and plant water status of irrigated and unirrigated sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench cv. TX610] and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Hysun 30) crops were compared on several days from the late vegetative to the early grain-filling stages of development. Additionally, the stems of plants from the irrigated and unirrigated plots of both species were cut near their base; this caused the plants to quickly dry until the stomata closed. The leaf water potential and leaf osmotic potential were measured when the stomatal resistance reached 6 s cm-� to give the water potential for stomatal closure and to provide osmotic potentials at equal turgor. Carbohydrate and potassium levels of leaves were also monitored. The mean daily minimum leaf water potentials in the irrigated sorghum and sunflower did not decrease below - 1 7 MPa and - 2.0 MPa, respectively, but decreased to - 2.1 MPa in the unirrigated sorghum and -2.6 MPa in the unirrigated sunflower. The osmotic potential at stomatal closure in the rapidly dried plants decreased with increasing leaf water deficit in both sunflower and sorghum: in both species the osmotic potential decreased approximately 0.6 MPa for each megapascal decrease in leaf water potential. The results indicate that both sorghum and sunflower adjusted osmotically in response to water deficits and that adjustment occurred at a rate of at least 0.1 MPa per day. The lowering of osmotic potential persisted less than 9 days after the relief of stress in both sunflower and sorghum. The soluble sugar concentration increased linearly in both sunflower and sorghum with osmotic adjustment: the rate of increase of soluble sugars was significantly greater in sunflower than sorghum. No changes in potassium concentration were observed during osmotic adjustment. The water potential at which the stomata closed varied from - 1.5 to -2.6 MPa in sorghum and - 1.7 to -2.7 MPa in sunflower: the water potential that induced stomatal closure decreased as the osmotic potential decreased. Stomatal closure occurred at a mean turgor of -0-5 MPa in both species: systematic error in the measurement of osmotic potential on frozen and thawed leaf tissue is considered the reason for the low turgor potentials at stomatal closure. The adaxial stomatal closed before the abaxial stomata in the sorghum and unirrigated sunflower but, since the leaf water potential initially fell rapidly and then became stable before the adaxial stomata closed, both the adaxial and abaxial stomata closed at the same leaf water potential.


1991 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 759 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Tangpremsri ◽  
S Fukai ◽  
KS Fischer ◽  
RG Henzell

Two sets containing large numbers (23 and 47 entries) of sorghum genotypes were grown in the glasshouse to examine the effect of osmotic adjustment on water extraction, dry matter growth and grain yield. Water stress was developed in two periods, one before and one after anthesis. The results were similar in the two experiments despite a large difference in the genetic background of the plant material. Since osmotic potential did not differ significantly among genotypes before water stress was induced, osmotic potential obtained under stress was used directly to indicate the genotype's ability to adjust osmotically. Osmotic adjustment was positively associated with green leaf area retention during grain filling and to root length density at 70 cm depth. Genotypes with high osmotic adjustment used more water during the second drying period. As a result, total dry matter was well related to osmotic adjustment during grain filling, but grain yield was negatively associated with osmotic adjustment in one experiment and not significantly related in the other. When comparison was made for lines which had similar leaf water potential during early stages of growth but which differed in osmotic adjustment during grain filling, there was still a positive effect of osmotic adjustment on total dry matter. This suggests that the positive effect was not caused by large plants extracting more water during early stages of growth, but was due to the difference in line's ability to extract water during grain filling.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document