Drought resistance of Camellia oleifera under drought stress: Changes in physiology and growth characteristics

Abstract

To investigate the growth, physiological changes and mechanism of drought resistance of Camellia oleifera GWu-2 under drought stress conditions, changes in the main growth and physiological indices of GWu-2 under different water gradients were studied. Factor analysis was used to study the differences between indicators under different water gradients, and correlation analysis was implemented to analyze the relationship between different factors. We observed that the growth state, enzyme secretion, stomatal morphology and leaf osmotic adjustment substances were significantly affected by drought stress. In particular, increases in leaf abscisic acid (ABA), indole acetic acid (IAA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) contents under drought stress were negatively correlated with the stomatal opening degree, and the ratio of ZR/GA3 was significantly correlated with the growth and physiological indicators of GWu-2, indicating that different hormones respond differently to drought stress and have different functions in the growth regulation and drought resistance of GWu-2. We concluded that the drought resistance mechanism of GWu-2 was controlled by maintaining root growth to obtain the necessary water, increasing the contents of osmotic substances of leaves to maintain water holding capacity, reducing the transpiration of water by increasing leaf ABA, IAA and MeJA content to close stomata and reducing the damage caused by drought by increasing the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD).

Application of 2,4-Epibrassinolide Improves Drought Tolerance in Tobacco through Physiological and Biochemical Mechanisms

“…Several studies indicate that drought stress (DS) reduces leaf thickness and the growth of individual cell layers. Drought stress reduced the total leaf thickness, with more reduction in mesophyll tissue thickness (thinner spongy and palisade cells) than in epidermal cells [ 47 ]. Similarly, another study found that drought stress reduced the total leaf thickness through decrease in cell size in individual cell layers, such as the upper and lower epidermis, palisade, and spongy layers [ 48 ].…”

Physiological and Transcriptional Analysis Reveals the Response Mechanism of Camellia vietnamensis Huang to Drought Stress

“…This result indicates that transcriptome sequencing technology is an efficient method to obtain transcriptome data [ 25 , 26 ]. However, most of the previous studies on the drought resistance of C. vietnamensis focus on morphological and physiological responses [ 27 ]. In recent years, some researchers have also reported the transcriptional characteristics of C. vietnamensis [ 1 ].…”

Glutathione, carbohydrate and other metabolites of Larix olgensis A. Henry reponse to polyethylene glycol-simulated drought stress

“…Under drought stress, plants produce many changes such as physiology and growth characteristics [ 10 ], gene expression [ 11 ] and metabolites [ 12 ] to maintain the osmotic pressure and balance, thus, maintaining the normal physiological and biochemical processes and preventing drought stress-induced damage. Under drought stress, plants regulate the expression of many synthetase genes, leading to increased concentrations of soluble metabolites, such as free proline, soluble sugars, organic acids, and betaine [ 13 ].…”