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Acta Agron Sin ›› 2011, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (05): 911-917.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1006.2011.00911

• TILLAGE & CULTIVATION · PHYSIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Soil Water Deficit and High Temperature on Leaf Cuticular Waxes and Physiological Indices in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) Leaf

GUO Yan-Jun1,NI Yu2,GUO Yun-Jiang1,HAN Long1,TANG Hua1,YU Yong-Xiong1   

  1. 1 Faculties of Animal Science and Technology; 2 Agronomy and Bio-Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China
  • Received:2010-09-27 Revised:2011-01-06 Online:2011-05-12 Published:2011-03-24

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Abstract: Cuticular wax, exposed at the outermost surface of plant organs, plays important roles in interactions of plant with environment and plays a critical role in plant drought tolerance by reducing cuticular water loss. In the experiment, two alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cultivars with different drought resistances, Aohan (high resistance) and Sanditi (low resistance), were selected to analyse the dynamics of leaf cuticular wax content and components, and the relationships between waxes and gas exchange indices under water deficit and high temperature stresses. The results showed that the alfalfa leaf surface was covered by thick wax platelets without specific orientations, which were constituted of alkanes (1.98%–3.38%), primary alcohols (79.97%–84.98%), esters (0.08%–0.24%), and small amount of unknown constituents (7.77%–13.38%). The wax deposition on alfalfa leaf was controlled by both variety type and environments. The wax content of Aohan was significantly higher than that of Sanditi. Under drought treatment, the proportions of alkanes in total wax increased (81.22%–108.16%), that of primary alcohol decreased (3.23%–12.54%); cuticular wax, photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), and stomatal conductance (Gs) of Aohan changed insignificantly except for intercellular carbon dioxide (Ci), while those of Sanditi decreased significantly, indicating that cuticular wax might take part in the process of water metabolism and the alkanes in total waxes might play important role in controlling water loss. Under the conditions of high temperature, Pn, Tr, Gs, Ci, and leaf relative water content decreased significantly, water use efficiency (Pn/Tr) and proline content increased significantly in both cultivars; the total cuticular wax content unchanged in Aohan but significantly decreased in Sanditi, indicating that stomatal closure and osmotic adjustment were the main paths taken by alfalfa under severe stressed conditions.

Key words: Water deficit, High temperature, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Cuticular waxes, Drought resistance, Crystalloids

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