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Hydraulic anatomy affects genotypic variation in plant water use and shows differential organ specific plasticity to drought in Sorghum bicolor

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10927/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2018.08.025
10.1016/j.envexpbot.2018.08.025
 
Title Hydraulic anatomy affects genotypic variation in plant water use and shows differential organ specific plasticity to drought in Sorghum bicolor
 
Creator Guha, A
Chhajed, S S
Choudhary, S
Sunny, R
Jansen, S
Barua, D
 
Subject Plant Genetics
Sorghum
Genetics and Genomics
Plant Physiology
 
Description Genotypic variability and plasticity in hydraulic anatomy are not well-understood in herbaceous monocots. In this study, we used Sorghum bicolor, a monocotyledonous, tropical grass model, to understand whether differential plant water use is associated with xylem anatomy and if whole-plant xylem anatomy responds to water stress, justifying differential genotypic sensitivity to drought. In a greenhouse environment, we studied four sorghum genotypes that are known to genetically differ in growth and exhibit differential sensitivity to drought. Under well-watered scenario, transpiration variability and plant growth traits correlated with xylem anatomical traits at both the leaf and stem level, including xylem area and predicted xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity. High water use genotypes had inherently higher hydraulic capacity, but under drought, their transpiration declined at higher fractions of transpirable soil water (FTSW) and they showed greater plasticity in hydraulic anatomy. However, lower FTSW thresholds and modest anatomical changes were identified in the low water use genotypes with inherently lower hydraulic conductivity. Drought, induced modular phenotypic plasticity in hydraulic anatomy, whereby plasticity in leaf xylem traits was remarkably higher than stem xylem, while root xylem showed a reverse nature of vascular modification. Xylem traits were in agreement with phloem anatomy, irrespective of water regime. Our study indicates that hydraulic anatomy can be critical for herbaceous monocots in determining limits to plant water use and genotypic response to drought with implications on whole-plant functions and habitat ecology.
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Date 2018-12
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Identifier Guha, A and Chhajed, S S and Choudhary, S and Sunny, R and Jansen, S and Barua, D (2018) Hydraulic anatomy affects genotypic variation in plant water use and shows differential organ specific plasticity to drought in Sorghum bicolor. Environmental and Experimental Botany (TSI), 156. pp. 25-37. ISSN 0098-8472