Root pressure-volume curve traits capture rootstock drought tolerance.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Living root tissues significantly constrain plant water uptake under drought, but we lack functional traits to feasibly screen diverse plants for variation in the drought responses of these tissues. Water stress causes roots to lose volume and turgor, which are crucial to root structure, hydraulics and growth. Thus, we hypothesized that root pressure-volume (p-v) curve traits, which quantify the effects of water potential on bulk root turgor and volume, would capture differences in rootstock drought tolerance.

Methods

We used a greenhouse experiment to evaluate relationships between root p-v curve traits and gas exchange, whole-plant hydraulic conductance and biomass under drought for eight grapevine rootstocks that varied widely in drought performance in

SUBMITTER: Bartlett MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8944712 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature