Water use efficiency (WUE) is considered as a determinant of yield under stress and a component of crop drought resistance. Stomatal behavior regulates both transpiration rate and net assimilation and has been suggested to be crucial for improving crop WUE. In this work, a dynamic model was used to examine the impact of dynamic properties of stomata on WUE. The model includes sub-models of stom...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Daytime root-zone temperature may be a significant factor regulating water flux through plants. Water flux can also occur during the night but nocturnal stomatal response to environmental drivers such as root-zone temperature remains largely unknown. METHODS Here nocturnal and daytime leaf gas exchange was quantified in 'Shiraz' grapevines (Vitis vinifera) exposed to three...

Previous studies on cytokinin (CK) and drought have suggested that the hormone has positive and negative effects on plant adaptation to restrictive conditions. This study examined the effect of CK on transpiration, stomatal activity, and response to drought in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants. Transgenic tomato plants overexpressing the Arabidopsis thaliana CK-degrading enzyme CK oxidase/de...

this study was conducted for evaluating the combined effect of soil moisture, phosphorus (p) and zinc (zn) levels on the growth attributes of potato (solanum tuberosum l. cv. agria). this investigation was arranged as a factorial experiment based on randomized complete blocks design with zn at three levels (0, 10 and 20mg zn per kg dry soil as zinc sulfate), p at three levels (0, 30 and 60mg pe...

Article Type: Full Length Research Article This study assessed the effect of soil Arsenic (As) on growth height, leaf area, biomass, relative growth rate (RGR), photosynthetic activities [net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs), inter-cellular CO2 concentration (Ci)] and selected antioxidant parameters [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and pero...

The role of plasma membrane aquaporins (PIPs) in water relations of Arabidopsis was studied by examining plants with reduced expression of PIP1 and PIP2 aquaporins, produced by crossing two different antisense lines. Compared with controls, the double antisense (dAS) plants had reduced amounts of PIP1 and PIP2 aquaporins, and the osmotic hydraulic conductivity of isolated root and leaf protopla...

Methods for the precise control of drought stress have been a holy grail of plant biology research. Here we describe a five-container growth chamber system and a 16-container greenhouse system, each of which uses load cells to monitor and control the mass of a soil/plant system. The calibration and signal conditioning necessary to quantify transpiration over 10 minute intervals is described. Ev...

This study determined whether the field level concentration of root zone CO2 affects transpiration rate and root water transport in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). In an upland field converted from a paddy field, topsoil CO2 during the cropping season rose to 8 kPa of partial pressure after rainfall, whereas O2 dropped only to a minimum of 7 kPa. An elevated root zone CO2 pressure of 6 kPa sign...

Growth at elevated CO2 often decreases photosynthetic capacity (acclimation) and leaf N concentrations. Lower-shaded canopy leaves may undergo both CO2 and shade acclimation. The relationship of acclimatory responses of flag and lower-shaded canopy leaves of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to the N content, and possible factors affecting N gain and distribution within the plant were investigated i...