Flood tolerance of wheat - the importance of leaf gas films during complete submergence

TY - JOUR

T1 - Flood tolerance of wheat - the importance of leaf gas films during complete submergence

AU - Winkel, Anders

AU - Herzog, Max

AU - Konnerup, Dennis

AU - Fløytrup, Anja Heidi

AU - Pedersen, Ole

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Submergence invokes a range of stressors to plants with impeded gas exchange between tissues and floodwater being the greatest challenge. Many terrestrial plants including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), possess superhydrophobic leaf cuticles that retain a thin gas film when submerged, and the gas films enhance gas exchange with the floodwater. However, leaf hydrophobicity is lost during submergence and the gas films disappear accordingly. Here, we completely submerged wheat (with or without gas films) for up to 14 days and found that plants with gas films survived significantly longer (13 days) than plants without (10 days). Plants with gas films also had less dead tissue following a period of recovery. However, this study also revealed that reflections by gas films resulted in a higher light compensation point for underwater net photosynthesis for leaves with gas films compared with leaves without (IC≤52 vs 35mol photons m-2 s-1 with or without gas films, respectively). Still, already at ∼5% of full sunlight the beneficial effect of gas films overcame the negative under ecologically relevant CO2 concentrations. Our study showed that dryland crops also benefit from leaf gas films during submergence and that this trait should be incorporated to improve flood tolerance of wheat.

AB - Submergence invokes a range of stressors to plants with impeded gas exchange between tissues and floodwater being the greatest challenge. Many terrestrial plants including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), possess superhydrophobic leaf cuticles that retain a thin gas film when submerged, and the gas films enhance gas exchange with the floodwater. However, leaf hydrophobicity is lost during submergence and the gas films disappear accordingly. Here, we completely submerged wheat (with or without gas films) for up to 14 days and found that plants with gas films survived significantly longer (13 days) than plants without (10 days). Plants with gas films also had less dead tissue following a period of recovery. However, this study also revealed that reflections by gas films resulted in a higher light compensation point for underwater net photosynthesis for leaves with gas films compared with leaves without (IC≤52 vs 35mol photons m-2 s-1 with or without gas films, respectively). Still, already at ∼5% of full sunlight the beneficial effect of gas films overcame the negative under ecologically relevant CO2 concentrations. Our study showed that dryland crops also benefit from leaf gas films during submergence and that this trait should be incorporated to improve flood tolerance of wheat.

U2 - 10.1071/FP16395

DO - 10.1071/FP16395

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1445-4408

VL - 44

SP - 888

EP - 898

JO - Functional Plant Biology

JF - Functional Plant Biology

IS - 9

ER -