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Mycorrhizal impact on drought stress tolerance of rose plants probed by chlorophyll a fluorescence, proline content and visual scoring

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Abstract

Micropropagated rose plants (Rosa hybrida L., cv. New Dawn) were inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices (Schenk and Smith) and subjected to different drought regimens. The dual objectives of these experiments were to investigate the mechanism and the extent to which AM can prevent drought damages and whether physiological analyses reveal enhanced drought tolerance of an economically important plant such as the rose. In a long-term drought experiment with four different water regimens, visual scoring of wilt symptoms affirmed that AM in a selected host–symbiont combination increased plant performance. This effect was mostly expressed if moderate drought stress was constantly applied over a long period. In a short-term experiment in which severe drought stress was implemented and plants were allowed to recover after 4 or 9 days, no visual differences between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roses were observed. Therefore, the early physiological steps conferring drought tolerance were prone to investigation. Proline content in leaves proved to be an unsuitable marker for AM-induced drought tolerance, whereas analysis of chlorophyll a fluorescence using the JIP test (collecting stress-induced changes of the polyphasic O-J-I-P fluorescence kinetics in a non-destructive tissue screening) was more explanatory. Parameters derived from this test could describe the extent of foliar stress response and help to differentiate physiological mechanisms of stress tolerance. AM led to a more intense electron flow and a higher productive photosynthetic activity at several sites of the photosynthetic electron transport chain. A K step, known as a stress indicator of general character, appeared in the fluorescence transient only in drought-stressed non-mycorrhizal plants; conversely, the data elucidate a stabilising effect of AM on the oxygen-evolving complex at the donor site of photosystem (PS) II and at the electron-transport chain between PS II and PS I. If drought stress intensity was reduced by a prolonged and milder drying phase, these significant tolerance features were less pronounced or missing, indicating a possible threshold level for mycorrhizal tolerance induction.

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Abbreviations

ABS:

absorption

AM:

arbuscular mycorrhiza

AMF:

arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Chl a :

chlorophyll a

DI:

dissipation

ET:

energy flux for electron transport

Fo, Fm:

initial and maximum Chl a fluorescence

Fv/Fm:

maximum quantum efficiency of primary photochemistry of photosystem II

O, K, J, I, P:

intermediate steps of Chl a fluorescence rise between Fo and Fm

OEC:

oxygen-evolving complex

PI:

performance index

PS I and PS II:

photosystems I and II

QA:

plastoquinone

RC:

reaction centre

Sm:

normalized area above the Chl a fluorescence transient

TR:

energy flux for trapping

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank R. Mayer for providing the rose plants; the Handy PEA was financed by the “Forschungsfond der Universität Hannover”. The project was supported by a grant of the “Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt” to A. Pinior. Mrs. Chantal Jazzar revised the language.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Diseases and Plant Protection, University of Hannover, Herrenhäuser Strasse 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany

    Alexandra Pinior, Gisela Grunewaldt-Stöcker & Henning von Alten

  2. Bioenergetics Laboratory, University of Geneva, 1254 Jussy, Geneva, Switzerland

    Reto J. Strasser

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  1. Alexandra Pinior
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  2. Gisela Grunewaldt-Stöcker
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  3. Henning von Alten
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  4. Reto J. Strasser
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Correspondence to Gisela Grunewaldt-Stöcker.

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Pinior, A., Grunewaldt-Stöcker, G., von Alten, H. et al. Mycorrhizal impact on drought stress tolerance of rose plants probed by chlorophyll a fluorescence, proline content and visual scoring. Mycorrhiza 15, 596–605 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-005-0001-1

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