1
|
He J, Ng K, Qin L, Shen Y, Rahardjo H, Wang CL, Kew H, Chua YC, Poh CH, Ghosh S. Photosynthetic gas exchange, plant water relations and osmotic adjustment of three tropical perennials during drought stress and re-watering. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0298908. [PMID: 38416721 PMCID: PMC10901313 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Planting vegetation on slopes is an effective way of improving slope stability while enhancing the aesthetic appearance of the landscape. However, plants growing on slopes are susceptible to natural drought stress (DS) conditions which commonly lead to water deficit in plant tissues that affect plant health and growth. This study investigated the photosynthetic gas exchange, plant water status and proline accumulation of three tropical perennials namely Clerodendrum paniculatum, Ipomoea pes-caprae and Melastoma malabathricum after being subjected to DS and re-watering (RW). During DS, there was a significant decrease in light-saturated photosynthetic CO2 assimilation rate (Asat), stomatal conductance (gs sat), and transpiration rate (Tr) for all three plant species. Leaf relative water content, shoot water potential, and leaf, stem and root water content also declined during DS. Proline concentration increased for all three species during DS, reaching especially high levels for C. paniculatum, suggesting that it heavily relies on the accumulation of proline to cope with DS. Most of the parameters recovered almost completely to levels similar to well-watered plants after RW, apart from M. malabathricum. Strong linear correlations were found between Asat and gs sat and between gs sat and Tr. Ultimately, C. paniculatum and I. pes-caprae had better drought tolerance than M. malabathricum.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jie He
- Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Klaudia Ng
- Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Lin Qin
- Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yuanjie Shen
- Nanyang Technological University, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Harianto Rahardjo
- Nanyang Technological University, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Chien Looi Wang
- Housing & Development Board, Building & Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Huiling Kew
- Housing & Development Board, Building & Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yong Chuan Chua
- Housing & Development Board, Building & Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Choon Hock Poh
- Plant Science & Health and Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology, National Parks Board Headquarters, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Subhadip Ghosh
- Plant Science & Health and Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology, National Parks Board Headquarters, Singapore, Singapore
| |
Collapse
|