Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Whole plant chamber to examine sensitivity of c...

Electronic data

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

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

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
Article number97
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/11/2018
<mark>Journal</mark>Plant Methods
Volume14
Number of pages13
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

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).