Water Stress Tolerance (water + stress_tolerance)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Hexaploid and Tetraploid Wheat to Drought Stress

JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY AND CROP SCIENCE, Issue 4 2000
V. Chandrasekar
An experiment was conducted to investigate the physiological and biochemical responses of two hexaploids viz., C 306 (water stress tolerant) and Hira (water stress susceptible), and two tetraploids, HW 24 (Triticum dicoccum) and A 9-30-1 (Triticum durum) wheat genotypes to water stress under pot culture condition. Water stress was imposed for a uniform period of 10 days at 50, 60 and 70 days after sowing (DAS) and observations were recorded at 60, 70 and 80 DAS. Total dry matter and plant height were recorded at harvest. Water stress caused a decline in relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll and carotenoid content, membrane stability and nitrate reductase activity and increased accumulation of proline at all stages and abscisic acid (ABA) at 80 DAS in all the genotypes. Both the tetraploids showed a lower reduction in RWC and highest ABA accumulation under water stress. Among the hexaploids Hira showed the most decline in RWC and the lowest ABA accumulation. The tetraploids also showed comparatively higher carotenoid content and membrane stability, closely followed by C 306, while Hira showed the minimum response under water stress. Nitrate reductase activity and chlorophyll content under irrigated conditions were highest in Hira but under water stress the lowest per cent decline was observed in C 306, followed by HW 24, A 9-30-1, and Hira. Proline accumulation under water stress conditions was highest in hexaploids C 306 and Hira and lowest in tetraploids HW 24 and A 9-30-1. Tetraploids HW 24, followed by A 9-30-1 maintained higher plant height and total dry matter (TDM) under water stress and also showed a lower per cent decline under stress than hexaploids C 306 and Hira. From the results it is clear that proline accumulation did not contribute to better drought tolerance of tetraploids than hexaploids. It is also apparent that water stress tolerance is the result of the cumulative action of various physiological processes, and all the parameters/processes may not be positively associated with the drought tolerance of a particular tolerant genotype. [source]


Improving low water activity and desiccation tolerance of the biocontrol agent Pantoea agglomerans CPA-2 by osmotic treatments

JOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2006
N. Teixidó
Abstract Aims:, To study the improvement of tolerance to low water activity (aw) and desiccation during spray drying in Pantoea agglomerans cells subjected to mild osmotic stress during growth. Methods and Results:, The micro-organism was cultured in an unmodified liquid (control) or in aw -modified media, and viability of these cells was evaluated on unstressed (0·995) and 0·96 aw stressed solid media, in order to check total viability and aw stress tolerance respectively. Significant improvements in viability on unmodified medium were observed with cells grown for 24 h in NaCl 0·98 aw, glycerol 0·98 aw and 0·97 aw and for 48 h in NaCl 0·98 aw and 0·97 aw modified media. Both yield improvements and water stress tolerance were achieved with low aw media. Cells grown for 24 h in NaCl 0·98 aw or for 48 h in NaCl 0·98 aw, 0·97 aw and 0·96 aw, glucose 0·97 aw and glycerol 0·97 aw showed improved aw stress tolerance in comparison with control cells. The best results were obtained with NaCl treatments (0·98 aw and 0·97 aw) which also exhibited better survival rates than control cells during spray-drying process and maintained their efficacy against postharvest fungal pathogens in apples and oranges. Conclusions:, NaCl treatments are very appropriate for improving P. agglomerans low aw tolerance obtaining high production levels and maintaining biocontrol efficacy. Significance and Impact of the Study:, Improving stress tolerance of biocontrol agents could be an efficient way to obtain consistency and maintain efficacy of biological control under practical conditions. [source]


Biochemical and molecular responses to water stress in resurrection plants

PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM, Issue 2 2004
Giovanni Bernacchia
A small group of angiosperms, known as resurrection plants, can tolerate extreme dehydration. They survive in arid environments because they are able to dehydrate, remain quiescent during long periods of drought, and then resurrect upon rehydration. Dehydration induces the expression of a large number of transcripts in resurrection plants. Gene products with a putative protective function such as LEA proteins have been identified; they are expressed at high levels in the cytoplasm or in chloroplasts upon dehydration and/or ABA treatment of vegetative tissue. An increase in sugar concentration is usually observed at the onset of desiccation in vegetative tissue of resurrection plants. These sugars may be effective in osmotic adjustment or they may stabilize membrane structures and proteins. Regulatory genes such as a protein translation initiation factor, homeodomain-leucine zipper genes and a gene probably working as a regulatory RNA have been isolated and characterized. The knowledge of the biochemical and molecular responses that occur during the onset of drought may help to improve water stress tolerance in plants of agronomic importance. [source]


Effects of different Nitrogen forms and osmotic stress on water use efficiency of rice (Oryza sativa)

ANNALS OF APPLIED BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
S. Guo
Abstract A hydroponic experiment with simulated water stress induced by polyethylene glycol (PEG) was conducted in greenhouse to study the effects of different nitrogen (N) forms (; and the mixture of and ) on water stress tolerance and water use efficiency (WUE and WUET) of different rice cultivars. Two rice cultivars (cv. ,Shanyou 63' hybrid indica and ,Yangdao 6' indica, China) were grown under non-water- or water-stressed condition [10% (w/v) PEG, molecular weight 6000] with different N forms for 3 weeks. Under non-water stress, the biomass of Shanyou 63 was 50.0% and 64.3% and of Yangdao 6 was 6.9% and 87.8% higher under the supply of mixture of and than either under the sole supply of or , respectively; under water stress, the biomass of both rice cultivars decreased in all three nitrogen forms compared with non-water stress; however, the inhibitory effect of water stress on biomass varied between and nutrition; the reduction of dry matter was significantly higher in than in nutrition. Compared with non-water stress, under water stressed condition, WUE of both two rice cultivars significantly decreased in supply; WUE did not vary in and the mixture supply. It is concluded that (a) the resistance of water stress of rice seedlings is related to nitrogen form; (b) under water stress, could maintain a higher WUE compared with ; (c) hybrid indica rice seedlings have a higher water stress tolerance than indica rice seedlings. [source]