Physiological responses of calystegia soldanella under drought stress

This study was conducted to determine the extent of drought resistance based on physiological responses of Calystegia soldanella under water deficit. In order to investigate the changes of plant growth, stomatal density, photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, the contents of chlorophyll and carotenoid, osmolality, total ion contents, the contents of carbohydrate and proline, C. soldanella was grown under well watered and drought stressed conditions for 12 days. In this study, water-deficit resulted in remarkable growth inhibition of C. soldanella. The effect of water-deficit on plant growth was associated with low osmotic potential of soil. On day 12 after drought treatment, dry weight, relative water contents, number and area of leaves and stem length were lower than those of control. The stomatal conductance and net photosynthetic rate were significantly reduced in water stressed plant to regulate inner water contents and CO2 exchange through the stomatal pore. Chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll contents were not different in comparison with the control, indicating that the efficiency of photosystem II was not affected by drought stress. This results could be explained that water-deficit in C. soldanella limits the photosynthetic rate and reduces the plant's ability to convert energy to biomass. A significant increase in total ion contents and osmolality was observed on day 7 and day 12. Accumulation of proline in leaves is associated with the osmotic adjustment in C. soldanella to soil water-deficit. Consequently, this increase in osmolality in water stressed plant can be a result in the increase of ion contents and proline.