To determine whether natural plant growth regulators (PGRs) can enhance drought tolerance and the competitive ability of transplanted seedlings, 1.5-year-old jack pine (Pinus banksana Lamb.) seedlings were treated with homobrassinolide, salicylic acid, and two polyamines, spermine and spermidine, triacontanol, abscisic acid (ABA), and the synthetic antioxidant, Ambiol. PGRs were fed into the xylem for 7 days and plants were droughted by withholding water for 12 days. ABA, Ambiol, spermidine, and spermine at a concentration of 10 µg L(-1) stimulated elongation growth under drought, whereas ABA, Ambiol, and spermidine maintained higher photosynthetic rates, higher water use efficiency, and lower Ci/Ca ratio under drought compared with control plants. The damaging effects of drought on membrane leakage was reversed by Ambiol, ABA, triacontanol, spermidine, and spermine. Because ABA, Ambiol, and both polyamines enhanced elongation growth and also reduced membrane damage in jack pine under drought, they show promise as treatments to harden seedlings against environmental stress. The protective action of these compounds on membrane integrity was associated with an inhibition of ethylene evolution, with a reduction in transpiration rate and an enhancement of photosynthesis, which together increased water use efficiency under drought. Although most of the tested compounds acted as antitranspirants, the inhibition in membrane leakage in ABA-, Ambiol-, and polyamine-treated plants appeared more closely related to the antiethylene action.

The effects of stress conditioning with polyethylene glycol on water relations and photosynthesis in preconditioned ramets were compared with those of unconditioned black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. BSP). Preconditioned plants maintained lower osmotic and water potentials and higher turgor potentials (measured as a difference between osmotic and water potentials), but photosynthetic rates were similar in both groups of plants. The conditioning treatment increased stomatal sensitivity to water stress, and stomatal conductance was lower in preconditioned plants soon after water stress was imposed. Preconditioned plants maintained significantly lower osmotic potentials during a severe water stress and were able to maintain turgor at the time when unconditioned plants wilted. Water-use efficiency was not affected by stress-conditioning treatment.

1989. Photosynthetic reinvigoration of leaves following shoot decapitation and accelerated growth of coppice shoots. -Physiol. Plantarum 75: 157-165.Changes in photosynthesis and water relations of remaining leaves and regrowth over the first 50 days following shoot decapitation were studied in Populus deltoides Bartr. X nigra L. 1-262 (DN22) and Populus maximowiczii x nigra L. MN9 to determine if these changes were correlated with the reinvigoration of growth that occurs after shoot decapitation. There was a 7-fold increase in net photosynthesis of the remaining leaves 5 days after shoot removal, indicating a rapid, substantial reinvigoration. Diurnal photosynthetic patterns of retained stump leaves and new coppice leaves showed that decapitation increased the photosynthetic potential of tissue by increasing net photosynthetic rates in the early afternoon, thereby ehminating the post-midday reduction typical of intact plants. The retained stump leaves exhibited lower midday xylem pressure potentials than comparable leaves on intact plants due to higher stomatal conductance, suggesting that an alleviation of piant moisture stress was not the cause of enhanced net photosynthesis of retained leaves. The results suggest that leaves of intact plants typically photosynthesize well below their capacity and that growth of new stump sprouts coincides with higher photosynthetic rates of coppice foliage.

Root restriction may be of importance for productivity in both forestry and agriculture. To study the physiological effects of root restriction in European alder (Alnus glutinosa Gaertn.), seedlings were grown in aerated liquid culture under one of four root volumes to induce the following levels of root restriction: 1.5, 6,16 and 500 ml. Root restriction for 96 days reduced shoot elongation, plant dry weight, leaf area and chlorophyll levels and increased leaf area/root dry weight ratio and correlative bud inhibition in seedlings. The initial reduction in root/shoot ratios of severely restricted seedlings was followed by a reduction in leaf water potential, the development of internal water deficits in the upper shoots, a reduction in stomatal opening and transpiration rates and, eventually, stomatal closure. Severe prolonged root restriction (1.5 ml root volume) resulted in a decline in seedling vigour and ultimately, senescence as determined by increased electrical impedance ratios, followed by visible leaf senescence and later, by whole plant senescence. Of the severely restricted seedlings, 40% were dead after 96 days of restriction. The results suggest that imbalanced root/shoot ratios caused the development of internal water stress and the consequent reduction in stomatal aperture, culminating in leaf and whole plant senescence.

One-year-old black spruce (Piceamariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) seedlings were preconditioned by exposing them to either one or two dehydration–rehydration cycles by using the osmoticum polyethylene glycol 3350. Preconditioned and unconditioned seedlings were then subjected to a more severe osmotic (water) stress by exposing them to a higher concentration of polyethylene glycol. Effects of repeated dehydration–rehydration cycles on cell-water relations were studied after 3, 7, and 13 days of stress relief using pressure–volume curve analysis. Repeated dehydration–rehydration cycles caused a cumulative increase in turgor potentials at full saturation. In these preconditioned plants there was also a progressive lowering of osmotic potentials and relative water contents at zero turgor, which increased over time with stress relief. The decline in osmotic potentials at zero turgor in osmotically stressed black spruce was associated with increased cell wall relaxation, followed by increased turgor potentials, in preconditioned but not in unconditioned seedlings. Saturated osmotic potentials were not altered by repeated, short-term conditioning stresses, suggesting that tissue elasticity was more important for turgor regulation than osmotic adjustment.