Whole plant chamber to examine sensitivity of cereal gas exchange to changes in evaporative demand

Jauregui, Jauregui and Rothwell, Shane Andrew and Taylor, Samuel and Parry, Martin Afan John and Carmo-Silva, Ana Elizabete and Dodd, Ian Charles (2018) Whole plant chamber to examine sensitivity of cereal gas exchange to changes in evaporative demand. Plant Methods, 14: 97. ISSN 1746-4811

[thumbnail of Jauregui_et_al_2018_Main_manuscript_Submitted]
Preview
PDF (Jauregui_et_al_2018_Main_manuscript_Submitted)
Jauregui_et_al_2018_Main_manuscript_Submitted.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (479kB)

Abstract

Background: Improving plant water use efficiency (WUE) is a major target for improving crop yield resilience to adverse climate change. Identifying genetic variation in WUE usually relies on instantaneous measurements of photosynthesis (An) and transpiration (Tr), or integrative measurements of carbon isotope discrimination, at the leaf level. However, leaf gas exchange measurements alone do not adequately represent whole plant responses, especially if evaporative demand around the plant changes. Results: Here we describe a whole plant gas exchange system that can rapidly alter evaporative demand when measuring An, Tr and intrinsec WUE (iWUE) and identify genetic variation in this response. An was not limited by VPD under steady-state conditions but some wheat cultivars restricted Tr under high evaporative demand, thereby improving iWUE. These changes may be ABA-dependent, since the barley ABA-deficient mutant (Az34) failed to restrict Tr under high evaporative demand. Despite higher Tr, Az34 showed lower An than wild-type (WT) barley because of limitations in Rubisco carboxylation activity. Tr and An of Az34 were more sensitive than WT barley to exogenous spraying with ABA, which restricted photosynthesis via substrate limitation and decreasing Rubisco activation. Conclusions: Examining whole plant gas exchange responses to altered VPD can identify genetic variation in whole plant iWUE, and facilitate an understanding of the underlying mechanism(s).

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Plant Methods
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1110
Subjects:
?? photosynthesistranspirationwater use efficiencyvpdabaplant sciencegeneticsbiotechnology ??
ID Code:
128804
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
05 Nov 2018 13:36
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Mar 2024 00:37