Abstract
Cuttings of Populus kangdingensis and Populus cathayana, originating from high and low altitudes in the eastern Himalaya, respectively, were examined during one growing season in a greenhouse to determine their responses to drought stress (soil moisture decreased from 100 to 55 or 25 % field capacity). Compared to control plants grown under 100 % field capacity, those poplars grown under 55 and 25 % field capacity possessed lower increases in height and stem diameter, and higher contents of soluble sugars, free proline, malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide, and higher activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR). Compared with P. cathayana with greater leaf area, P. kangdingensis with greater root/shoot ratio exhibited lower MDA and H2O2 contents, higher soluble sugar and free proline contents, and higher activities of CAT, SOD, POD, APX and GR. These results suggested that P. kangdingensis was more drought tolerant than P. cathayana.
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Abbreviations
- APX:
-
ascorbate peroxidase
- AsA:
-
ascorbic acid
- CAT:
-
catalase
- d.m.:
-
dry mass
- GR:
-
glutathione reductase
- LA:
-
leaf area
- MDA:
-
malondialdehyde
- NBT:
-
nitroblue tetrazolium
- POD:
-
peroxidase
- ROS:
-
reactive oxygen species
- RS:
-
root/shoot ratio
- RWC:
-
relative water content
- SOD:
-
superoxide dismutase
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Acknowledgements: The research was supported by the Outstanding Young Scientist Program of the National Science Foundation of China (no. 30525036) and the Program of “Knowledge Innovation Engineering” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KSCX2-YW-N-064).
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Yang, F., Xu, X., Xiao, X. et al. Responses to drought stress in two poplar species originating from different altitudes. Biol Plant 53, 511–516 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-009-0092-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-009-0092-1