Growth and abscisic acid responses of Medicago sativa to water stress at different growth stages

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with three alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cultivars, Aohan, Zhongmu No.1 and Sanditi, to examine the morphological and physiological responses of alfalfa to water stress. The response of alfalfa to water stress at different growth stages was generally similar, but varied among cultivars. At the branching, flowering and podding stages, the shoot biomasses of Aohan and Zhongmu No.1 were greatly affected by, and responded quickly to, water stress. The shoot biomass of Sanditi was not affected by mild water stress, but had a slight response to moderate and severe water stress. The root/shoot ratios in Aohan and Zhongmu No.1 were more sensitive to water stress than in Sanditi, with the root/shoot ratio in Aohan increasing most significantly. At flowering, the root/shoot ratio was the highest and the effect of water stress the greatest. The abscisic acid (ABA) concentration in the roots of Aohan and Zhongmu No.1 increased under water stress, while in Sanditi there was only a slight or delayed response of ABA concentration.

Keywords

abscisic acid / alfalfa / drought response / growth stage / water deficit

References

[1] Chen C H, Zhang Z Z, Lu H Z, Wei C G. Effects of drought on rice growth and yield in different growth stage. Southwest China Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 1993, 6(2): 38–43 (in Chinese)

[2] Wang J, Wei C Z, Zhu J L, Wang J X, Zhu L L, Li C. Effects of drought stress on cotton physiological indices and biomass in different growth periods. X injiang Agricultural Sciences, 2014, 51(4): 596–604 (in Chinese)

[3] Liang Y, Harris J M. Response of root branching to abscisic acid is correlated with nodule formation both in legumes and nonlegumes. American Journal of Botany, 2005, 92(10): 1675–1683

[4] Audran C, Liotenberg S, Gonneau M, North H, Frey A, Tap-Waksman K, Vartanian N, Marion-Poll A. Localisation and expression of zeaxanthin epoxidase mRNA in Arabidopsis in response to drought stress and during seed development. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, 2001, 28(12): 1161–1173

[5] Ghassemian M, Lutes J, Chang H S, Lange I, Chen W, Zhu T, Wang X, Lange B M. Abscisic acid-induced modulation of metabolic and redox control pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana. Phytochemistry, 2008, 69(17): 2899–2911

[6] Corrêa de Souza T, Magalhães P C, Mauro de Castro E, Pereira de Albuquerque P E, Marabesi M A. The influence of ABA on water relation, photosynthesis parameters, and chlorophyll fluorescence under drought conditions in two maize hybrids with contrasting drought resistance. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 2013, 35(2): 515–527

[7] Mahdieh M, Mostajeran A. Abscisic acid regulates root hydraulic conductance via aquaporin expression modulation in Nicotiana tabacum. Journal of Plant Physiology, 2009, 166(18): 1993–2003

[8] Ye N, Jia L, Zhang J. ABA signal in rice under stress conditions. Rice, 2012, 5(1): 1–9

[9] Li W R, Zhang S Q, Ding S Y, Shan L. Root morphological variation and water use in alfalfa under drought stress. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2010, 30(19): 5140–5150 (in Chinese)

[10] Yu L, Wang Y, Garnett T, Auricht G, Han D L. A study on physiological responses of varieties of Medicago sativa and their relationship with the drought resistance capacity under drought stress. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2006, 15(3): 75–85 (in Chinese)

[11] Sgherri C L M, Salvateci P, Menconi M, Raschi A, Navari-Izzo F. Interaction between drought and elevated CO₂ in the response of alfalfa plants to oxidative stress. Journal of Plant Physiology, 2000, 156(3): 360–366

[12] Han R H, Zhang Y G, Tian H, Lu X. Study on changes of endogenous hormones in the leaves of alfalfa under drought stress.   Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica, 2008, 23(3): 81–84 (in Chinese)

[13] Ren M, He J H. Changes of ABA metabolism in leaves and roots of alfalfa under natural drought stress. Journal of Anhui Agricultural Sciences, 2010, 38(4): 1771–1772 (in Chinese)

[14] Antolín M C, Yoller J, Sánchez-Díaz M. Effects of temporary drought on nitrate-fed and nitrogen-fixing alfalfa plants. Plant Science, 1995, 107(2): 159–165

[15] Zhang W, Gao W, Cao Z, He L S, Tan G Y, Wang B M. Immunolocalization and quantitation of ABA and IAA in the organs of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under drought stress. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 2014, 47(15): 2940–2948 (in Chinese)

[16] Chen P Y. The 6th section of topics on the physiological and ecological basis of dryland: adaptability and response of crops to drought stress. Agriculture Journal of Shanxi Agricultural Sciences, 1990,(9): 29–30, 37 (in Chinese)

[17] Zhu Y, Fan X F, Wu J Y, Duan L S, Hou X C. Effects of water stress on growth and biomass quality of switch grass. Journal of China Agricultural University, 2012, 17(2): 59–64 (in Chinese)

[18] Erice G, Louahlia S, Irigoyen J J, Sanchez-Diaz M, Avice J C. Biomass partitioning, morphology and water status of four alfalfa genotypes submitted to progressive drought and subsequent recovery. Journal of Plant Physiology, 2010, 167(2): 114–120

[19] Chen X Y, Liu X Y, Luo Y P. Effects of soil moisture on dynamic distribution of dry matter in winter wheat root and shoot. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 2003, 36(12): 1502–1507(in Chinese)

[20] Feng G L, Luo Y P, Liu J L, Yang P L. Dynamic relationship of function and growth between winter wheat root and shoot under different soil water conditions. Agricultural Research in the Arid Areas, 1997, 15(2): 73–79 (in Chinese)

[21] Jeschke W D, Peuke A D, Pate J S, Hartung W. Transport, synthesis and catabolism of abscisic acid (ABA) in intact plants of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) under phosphate deficiency and moderate salinity. Journal of Experimental Botany, 1997, 48(314): 1737–1747

[22] Brodersen C R, McElrone A J, Choat B, Lee E F, Shackel K A, Matthews M A. In vivo visualizations of drought-induced embolism spread in Vitis vinifera. Plant Physiology, 2013, 161(4): 1820–1829

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Agricultural Research System (CARS-34), the National Major Research and Development (2016YFC0500608) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31372370).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Yue Li, Liqiang Wan, Yufei Wang, and Xianglin Li declare they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2018. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)