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Chemical and hydraulic signals regulate stomatal behavior and photosynthetic activity in maize during progressive drought

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Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate stomatal regulation in maize seedlings during progressive soil drying and to determine the impact of stomatal movement on photosynthetic activity. In well-watered and drought-stressed plants, leaf water potential (Ψ leaf), relative water content (RWC), stomatal conductance (g s), photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, leaf instantaneous water use efficiency (iWUEleaf), and abscisic acid (ABA) and zeatin-riboside (ZR) accumulation were measured. Results showed that g s decreased significantly with progressive drought and stomatal limitations were responsible for inhibiting photosynthesis in the initial stages of short-term drought. However, after 5 days of withholding water, non-stomatal limitations, such as damage to the PSII reaction center, became the main limiting factor. Stomatal behavior was correlated with changes in both hydraulic and chemical signals; however, changes in ABA and ZR occurred prior to any change in leaf water status. ABA in leaf and root tissue increased progressively during soil drying, and further analysis found that leaf ABA was negatively correlated with g s (R 2 = 0.907, p < 0.05). In contrast, leaf and root ZR decreased gradually. ZR in leaf tissue was positively correlated with g s (R 2 = 0.859, p < 0.05). These results indicate that ABA could induce stomatal closure, and ZR works antagonistically against ABA in stomatal behavior. In addition, the ABA/ZR ratio also had a strong correlation with g s, suggesting that the combined chemical signal (the interaction between ABA and cytokinin) plays a role in coordinating stomatal behavior. In addition, Ψ leaf and RWC decreased significantly after only 3 days of drought stress, also affecting stomatal behavior.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

C a :

Ambient CO2 concentration

C i :

Intercellular CO2 concentration

C i/C a :

Ratio of intercellular to ambient CO2 concentration

CK:

Cytokinin

E :

Transpiration rate

F o :

Minimum fluorescence yield

\(F_{\text{o}}^{'}\) :

Minimum fluorescence in the light

F m :

The maximum fluorescence yield

\(F_{\text{m}}^{'}\) :

The maximum fluorescence in the light

F s :

The steady-state fluorescence yield

F v /F m :

The maximum efficiency of PSII

g s :

Stomatal conductance

L s :

Stomatal limitation value

NPQ:

Non-photochemical quenching

P n :

Photosynthetic rate

qP:

Photochemical quenching

RWC:

Relative water content

iWUEleaf :

Leaf instantaneous water use efficiency

ZR:

Zeatin-riboside

Ψ leaf :

Leaf water potential

Φ PSII :

Actual efficiency of PSII

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51409131) and Jiangxi Province Science and Technology Support Program, China (20151BBF60013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Basin Agricultural Resources and Ecology of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Yan, Xiuxia Yang & Xiaomin Zhao

  2. College of Hydrodynamic and Ecological Engineering, Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang, 330099, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Lifeng Wu

  3. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ecosciences Precinct, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    Fiona Filardo

  4. Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology, Ecology and Genetic Breeding, Ministry of Education, Agronomy College, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Donghui Fu

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  1. Hui Yan
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Correspondence to Donghui Fu.

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Communicated by P. Sowinski.

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Yan, H., Wu, L., Filardo, F. et al. Chemical and hydraulic signals regulate stomatal behavior and photosynthetic activity in maize during progressive drought. Acta Physiol Plant 39, 125 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2418-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2418-5

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