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Simplified Procedure for Estimating Tissue Affinity for Bound Water in Durum Wheat
Author(s) -
Rascio A.,
Ruscio M.,
Di Fonzo N.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1997.0011183x003700010049x
Subject(s) - bound water , relative humidity , abiotic component , water stress , enthalpy , biology , sorption , drought resistance , abiotic stress , thermodynamics , biological system , botany , chemistry , biochemistry , molecule , ecology , physics , organic chemistry , adsorption , gene
Bound water has been studied intensively in relation to abiotic stress tolerance, but investigations of its role as a component of drought resistance in crop plants have been hampered by lack of rapid, inexpensive, and reliable methods capable of processing large populations in a short time. We investigated the possibility of estimating thermodynamic properties of strongly bound water in wheat leaves ( Triticum durum Desf.) using a simplified analysis of water sorption, which made use of 39 paired isotherm curves constructed at 5 and 20°C, and thermodynamic parameters derived from them. Tissue affinity for strongly bound water (expressed as average differential enthalpy = ΔH̄) was compared with measurements of the difference in water sorbed (DWS) by the leaves at 5 and 20°C at relative humidities of 7, 11, 33, and 43%. Measurement of DWS at 33% relative humidity gave the best estimate of Δ̄, and therefore constituted a reliable, inexpensive, simplified method for the evaluation of tissue affinity for strongly bound water.