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Environmental and Stress Physiology

Structural Changes and Associated Reduction of Hydraulic Conductance in Roots of Sorghum bicolor L. following Exposure to Water Deficit ¹

Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843

The effects of a severe water deficit on total root (L_t) and axial (L_x) hydraulic conductances and on the development of the hypodermis, endodermis, and xylem were studied in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). Water deficit was imposed in the upper rooting zone while the lower zones were kept moist. L_t and L_x were based on water flow rates obtained by applying suction to proximal xylem ends of excised roots. The development of the hypodermis, endodermis, and other tissues were examined by staining with fluorescent berberine hemisulfate and phloroglucinol-HCl. The L_t value (x 10^–8 meters per second per megapascal) for unstressed control roots was 22.0 and only 5.9 for stressed roots. The low L_t in stressed roots was attributed, in part, to accelerated deposition of lignin and suberin in the hypodermis and endodermis. Calcofluor, an apoplastic tracer that binds to cellulose, was blocked in stressed roots at the lignified and suberized outer tangential walls of the hypodermis but readily penetrated the cortical walls of similar root regions in controls where the casparian band was not developed. L_x per unit root length was about 100 times lower in stressed roots than in controls because of the persistence of late metaxylem cross-walls and the smaller diameter and lower number of conductive protoxylem and early metaxylem vessels.

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