Differential root and shoot biomass recovery in wheat and barley with transient waterlogging during preflowering

DE SAN CELEDONIO ROMINA; ABELEDO GL; MANTESE A; MIRALLES DJ

PLANT AND SOIL

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2017 p. 481 - 498

0032-079X

Aims Wheat and barley plants exposed to waterloggingreduced their growth, but the final impact on grain yielddepends on the capacity of the plant to recover afterstress. The aim of this study was to evaluate shoot androot biomass accumulation in wheat and barley plantsduring waterlogging events applied at different stagesduring preflowering and after stress removal.Methods Wheat and barley plants were waterlogged for15?20 days at four consecutive periods during phenologicalcycle from emergence to flowering.Results Waterlogging produced a delayed effect onshoot biomass, as biomass reductions were detected20 days after waterlogging was released. The highestrelative reductions of shoot biomass (60% in wheat and68?74% in barley regarding control) occurred whenwaterlogging was applied early in the cycle (from emergenceto tillering). Waterlogged plants showed a remarkablecapacity to recover from early waterlogging(reaching similar shoot biomass as control plants atflowering), but recovery capacity decreased whenwaterlogging occurred later in the phenological cycle.For both species green leaf area and photosynthetic ratewere reduced and water soluble carbohydrates increasedwhen waterlogging ended, however the general trendshowed values at flowering similar to the control plants.The impact of waterlogging on roots was generallyhigher than the one on shoots and the effect was detectedimmediately after treatment. The root system capacity torecover after waterlogging was lower than the one forshoots, and was higher in barley than in wheat.Conclusions Waterlogging first damaged root biomasswhile effects on shoots were delayed. Shoot recovery atflowering was possible for waterlogging events previousto stem elongation, but root recovery was lower,especially for wheat.