EFFECTS OF NURSERY IRRIGATION AND TEMPERATURE ON MORPHO-ANATOMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LOTUS CRETICUS

The anatomical and morphological response of Lotus creticus sub. cytisoides seedlings to two irrigation treatments (water stress and control) and temperature (unheated and heated greenhouse) was investigated in nursery conditions.
Aerial part and root growth, leaf stomatal density, leaf trichome density and the xylem structure in roots and stems were studied because of their relation with disease and drought resistance and other plant properties.
Water stress led to substantial losses in fresh weight, leaf area and root length, while the same treatment produced plants with greater stomatal and leaf trichome densities.
Night-time heating of the greenhouse reduced the abaxial surface stomatal density of water-stressed plants but had no effect on well-watered plants, the opposite being true for leaf trichome density.
Water stress increased xylem vessel and tracheid density as well as the ratio between the xylem radius and the stem or root cross-section radius.
Temperature did not affect these parameters in conditions of control irrigation but reduced the latter in water stressed plants.
The ecophysiological significance of these response are discussed in relation with the use of such seedlings in the revegetation of semiarid zones.

V International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates: Current Trends for Suistainable Technologies

S. Bañón Arias, J.A. Fernández Hernández, J.A. Franco Leemhuis, A. González Benavente-García

Stomatal density, trichome density, xylem vessel, temperature, water stress, hardening

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2001.559.47