Open AccessDrought tolerance of sugarcane propagules is improved when origin material faces water deficit
Author(s) -
Fernanda Castro Correia Marcos,
Neidiquele M. Silveira,
Paulo Eduardo Ribeiro Marchiori,
Eduardo Caruso Machado,
Gustavo Maia Souza,
Marcos Guimarães de Andrade Landell,
Rafael V. Ribeiro
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0206716
Subject(s) - propagule , biology , agronomy , shoot , proline , horticulture , botany , biochemistry , amino acid
Drought stress can imprint marks in plants after a previous exposure, leading to plant acclimation and a permissive state that facilitates a more effective response to subsequent stress events. Such stress imprints would benefit plants obtained through vegetative propagation (propagules). Herein, our hypothesis was that the propagules obtained from plants previously exposed to water deficit would perform better under water deficit as compared to those obtained from plants that did not face stressful conditions. Sugarcane plants were grown under well-hydrated conditions or subjected to three cycles of water deficit by water withholding. Then, the propagules were subjected to water deficit. Leaf gas exchange was reduced under water deficit and the propagules from plants that experienced water deficit presented a faster recovery of CO 2 assimilation and higher instantaneous carboxylation efficiency after rehydration as compared to the propagules from plants that never faced water deficit. The propagules from plants that faced water deficit also showed the highest leaf proline concentration under water deficit as well as higher leaf H 2 O 2 concentration and leaf ascorbate peroxidase activity regardless of water regime. Under well-watered conditions, the propagules from plants that faced stressful conditions presented higher root H 2 O 2 concentration and higher activity of catalase in roots as compared to the ones from plants that did not experience water shortage. Such physiological changes were associated with improvements in leaf area and shoot and root dry matter accumulation in propagules obtained from stressed plants. Our results suggest that root H 2 O 2 concentration is a chemical signal associated with improved sugarcane performance under water deficit. Taken together, our findings bring a new perspective to the sugarcane production systems, in which plant acclimation can be explored for improving drought tolerance in rainfed areas.