Some physiological and morphological responses of Pyrus boissieriana to flooding

PARAD GA; ZARAFSHAR M; STRIKER GG; SATTARIAN A

TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2013 p. 1387 - 1393

0931-1890

European pear is a flooding-sensitive species, and for its cultivation in lowland areas, it is necessary to carry out the grafting of scions of commercial pear varieties into rootstocks belonging to flooding-tolerant wild pear species.  Flooding tolerance of Pyrus boissieriana ? a type of wild pear ? was studied as a promissory rootstock for commercial pear. For this purpose, three-month-old plants of P. boissieriana were subjected during 30 days to control (C), well irrigated treatment, short-term (15 days) flooding plus 15 days recovery (F+R), and long-term (30 days) continuous flooding (F). Physiological performance, plant morphological changes and biomass accumulation were assessed. Results showed that, although stomatal conductance, transpiration and photosynthesis were progressively reduced by flooding, when flooding was short-term (i.e. 2 weeks, F+R treatment), plants were able to adequately recover their physiological activity (50-74% with respect to controls). By contrast, when plants continued flooded (F treatment) the physiological activity became null, and plants died quickly after water subsided. Adventitious rooting was the most conspicuous registered morphological response to flooding, despite the fact that flooded plants had shorter shoots and roots than control plants. Leaf and root biomass were 63 and 89% higher under short-term flooding (F+R) than under continuous flooding (F), condition in which plants did not survive. In conclusion, P. boissieriana appears as a promising species for its use as rootstock of commercial pear in lowland areas prone to suffering flooding up to two weeks. However, if flooding period extends, plants of this species run the risk of perishing.