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MORPHOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL EFFECTS OF SEVERE DROUGHT ON THE ROOTS OF LOLIUM PERENNE L.
Author(s) -
JUPP A. P.,
NEWMAN E. I.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1987.tb00876.x
Subject(s) - lolium perenne , elongation , water stress , biology , root system , botany , drought stress , lolium , agronomy , horticulture , poaceae , materials science , metallurgy , ultimate tensile strength
S ummary Three experiments using soil‐grown Lolium perenne plants were performed in order to investigate the effects of a gradually increasing drought stress on the death of root cells and the growth of lateral roots. Water potentials of ‐2 to ‐10 MPa caused death of the root cortex, but death of root tips occurred only at soil water potentials below ‐10 MPa. Low soil water potentials promoted lateral root initiation and elongation, the total length of lateral roots being between three and five times that of control plants. On rewetting severely droughted plants, root growth continued by elongation of existing, previously initiated, lateral roots.