Leaf Gas Exchange and Water Relations of Lupins and Wheat. I. Shoot Responses to Soil Water Deficits

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 401 ◽  
Author(s):  
IE Henson ◽  
CR Jensen ◽  
NC Turner

The effects of a progressive increase in soil water deficit on the leaf conductance and gas exchange of lupin (Lupinus cosentinii) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) were investigated in pot experiments in a temperature-regulated glasshouse, using a coarse, sandy soil characteristic of the Western Australian wheatbelt. Transpiration rates decreased rapidly in both species after water was withheld, mainly as a result of stomatal closure. Photosynthesis declined also, but to a lesser extent than conductance. Leaf extension in lupin was equally as sensitive to a decrease in leaf water potential and soil water potential as stomatal conductance. Stomatal closure served to maintain the water potential of lupin leaves to within 0.1 MPa of that of control (watered) plants as the soil water content decreased from 0.14 to 0.06 m3 m-3 and as the leaf conductance and the relative transpiration rate fell to less than 50% of control values. Maintenance of leaf water potential with decreasing soil water content and stomatal conductance was less evident in wheat. In both lupin and wheat, leaf conductance decreased linearly with soil water content and curvilinearly with bulk soil matric potential, indicating that water uptake was restricted at similar water contents and matric potentials in both species. Diurnal measurements on lupin indicated a substantial reduction in stomatal conductance after water was withheld, even when the leaf water potential at midday was reduced by only 0.1 MPa and no change could be detected in the bulk leaf turgor pressure. Conductance in lupin was reduced even though the soil matric potential decreased in only part of the rooting zone. This, together with the absence of any significant change in the leaf water potential, turgor pressure, or relative water content in lupin during the initial stages of stomatal closure, suggests that a soil or root factor initiates the reduction in leaf conductance - and hence regulates the shoot water status - in response to soil drying.

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Bennett ◽  
K. J. Boote ◽  
L. C. Hammond

Abstract Limited data exist describing the physiological responses of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) plants to tissue water deficits. Detailed field experiments which accurately define the water status of both the plant and soil are required to better understand the effects of water stress on a peanut crop. The objectives of the present study were 1) to describe the changes in leaf water potential components during a drying cycle, and 2) to define the relationships among soil water content, leaf water potential, leaf turgor potential, relative water content, leaf-air temperature differential, and leaf diffusive resistance as water stress was imposed on a peanut crop. During a 28-day drying period where both rainfall and irrigation were withheld from peanut plants, midday measurements of the physiological parameters and volumetric soil water contents were taken concurrently. As soil drying progressed, water extraction from the upper soil depths was limited as soil moisture approached 0.04 m3m-3. Leaf water potentials and leaf turgor potentials of nonirrigated plants decreased to approximately −2.0 and 0 MPa, respectively, by the end of the experimental period. Leaf water potentials declined only gradually as the average volumetric soil water content in the upper 90 cm of soil decreased from 0.12 to 0.04 m3m-3. Further reductions in soil water content caused large reductions in leaf water potential. As volumetric soil moisture content decreased slightly below 0.04 m3m-3 in the upper 90 cm, leaf relative water content dropped to 86%, leaf water potential approached −1.6 MPa and leaf turgor potential decreased to 0 MPa. Concurrently, stomatal closure resulted and leaf temperature increased above air temperature. Osmotic potentials measured at 100% relative water content were similar for irrigated and nonirrigated plants, suggesting little or no osmotic regulation.


1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Fukai ◽  
P Inthapan

Several physiological responses were compared, under irrigated and water-stressed conditions, in an attempt to explain the reasons for the greater reduction in dry matter production of rice compared with maize and sorghum in a water-limiting environment. Leaf water potential and leaf rolling were determined weekly, soil water profiles and root length density twice, and leaf osmotic potential once during a long dry period. Root length density of rice was at least as high as that of maize and sorghum in the top 0.6 m layer of soil in both the wet and dry trials. There was no difference in water extraction among the 3 species from this layer, while rice extracted less water than did the other species from below 0.6 m. High variability among replicates precluded any conclusion being drawn regarding root length in the deeper layer. Leaf water potential, measured in the early afternoon, was consistently lower in rice than in maize and sorghum, even when soil water content was high, indicating high internal resistance to the flow of water in the rice plants. The low leaf water potential in rice was accompanied by low osmotic potential, and this assisted in maintenance of turgor and dry matter growth when soil water content was relatively high. As soil water content decreased, however, leaf water potential became very low (less than - 2.5 MPa) and, for rice, leaves rolled tightly.


1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
NC Turner ◽  
JE Begg ◽  
HM Rawson ◽  
SD English ◽  
AB Hearn

Concurrent measurements of leaf water potential, leaf osmotic potential, leaf relative water content, quantum flux density, leaf conductance, 14CO2 photosynthesis, soluble and insoluble sugars, starch and potassium concentrations were made diurnally on six occasions between flowering and maturity on upper leaves of irrigated and rainfed crops of soybean (cvv. Ruse and Bragg) and a rainfed crop of sorghum (cv. TX 610). With adequate soil water, sorghum had lower values of leaf conductance than did soybeans at high light and yet had higher rates of photosynthesis. Stage of plant development had no effect on either leaf conductance or photosynthesis of the youngest fully expanded leaves of both sorghum and soybean, but starch accumulation in the leaf over the day was less at grain-filling than at flowering in the soybean. Starch and sugar levels in the leaf had no apparent effect on photosynthesis. The daily minimum leaf water potential decreased in Ruse soybean from - 1.5 to -2.7 MPa as soil water was depleted. Late in the drying cycle, the daily minimum leaf water potential was higher in Bragg than in Ruse. In both cultivars, stomatal closure and decrease in 14CO2 photosynthesis commenced at leaf water potentials below - 1.5 MPa. Thus, the effect of water deficits on leaf conductance and photosynthesis occurred later in the drying cycle in Bragg than Ruse. As photosynthesis decreased with the depletion of soil water, starch accumulation in leaves of both cultivars of soybean decreased; changes in soluble and insoluble sugars and in potassium were small. The relationships among leaf water potential, osmotic potential, turgor potential, and leaf relative water content did not change with season or soil water depletion. Bragg and Ruse soybeans showed a similar response and both approached zero turgor at the same relative water content (82-83 %) and the same leaf water potential (- 1.5 to - 1.7 MPa). No evidence ofr osmotic adjustment was found in either soybean cultivar.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 407-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Rodrigues ◽  
V. Pedroso ◽  
J. P. Gouveia ◽  
S. Martins ◽  
C. Lopes ◽  
...  

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