A novel screening method in breeding apples for optimal stomatal behaviour

Increasing climatic unpredictability associated with characteristics of some fruit species makes optimal stomatal behaviour an important trait in fruit breeding.
However, porometers and other instruments provide only discrete measurements of stomatal conductance, which are difficult to average at canopy scale.
We have applied a model based on rearranging a parameterized P-M equation incorporated into a stomatal conductance model derived from meteorological variations.
The model uses diurnal courses of variables instead of commonly used daily means, and shows canopy conductance as the function of radiation and vapour pressure deficit.
The daily pattern of canopy conductance for water vapour at canopy level provided by the model offers an unprecedented insight into rapid response to air humidity of different cultivars as well as their light saturation levels.
The satisfactory performance of this model makes it a promising tool for the rapid screening of water stress tolerance in apple genotypes.

I International Apple Symposium

E. Kullaj, F. Thomaj

stomatal conductance, modelling, sap flow, vapour pressure deficit, apple

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1261.8