{"title":"Putrescine eases saline stress by regulating biochemicals, antioxidative enzymes, and osmolyte balance in hydroponic strawberries (cv. Albion).","authors":"Ferhad Muradoğlu, Şeyma Batur, Mirmahmud Hasanov, Emrah Güler","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70259","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Salinity is a significant abiotic stress factor that causes considerable damage to many plants through various mechanisms. In this study, the ameliorative effect of putrescine (100, 150, and 200 ppm) on salinity stress (1 g L<sup>-1</sup> NaCl) was investigated in strawberry cv. Albion grown in hydroponic culture. Results showed that putrescine provided root development comparable to control under salt stress. Chlorophyll a and b levels were slightly enhanced by putrescine, while the Chlorophyll a/b ratio was significantly improved. The total phenolics, carbohydrates, anthocyanin, and protein were also raised by putrescine treatments under saline conditions. The antioxidant mechanism was also fortified by putrescine treatment, evidenced by the increased DPPH scavenging and the rise in the antioxidant enzymes, SOD and CAT. The oxidative substances, particularly MDA, notably decreased by rising putrescine doses. Moreover, putrescine treatments positively regulated root-to-shoot osmolyte homeostasis with a diverse effect mechanism according to applied doses. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive insight into the effects of putrescine on the saline stress mechanism in strawberries and suggests it as a favourable biogenic agent.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70259"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12062852/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144021029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nahid Rafiei, Hossein Alishah Aratboni, Leandro Luis Lavandosque, Clíssia Barboza Mastrangelo, Welinton Yoshio Hirai, Lucianne Ferreira Paes de Oliveira, Gabriel Luiz Padoan Gonçalves, José Lavres, Mônica Lanzoni Rossi, Adriana Pinheiro Martinelli, Simone Possedente de Lira, Seyed Abdolreza Kazemeini, Flavia Vischi Winck
{"title":"Haematococcus pluvialis bionanoparticles boost maize seedling health, serving as a sustainable seed priming agent and biostimulant for agriculture.","authors":"Nahid Rafiei, Hossein Alishah Aratboni, Leandro Luis Lavandosque, Clíssia Barboza Mastrangelo, Welinton Yoshio Hirai, Lucianne Ferreira Paes de Oliveira, Gabriel Luiz Padoan Gonçalves, José Lavres, Mônica Lanzoni Rossi, Adriana Pinheiro Martinelli, Simone Possedente de Lira, Seyed Abdolreza Kazemeini, Flavia Vischi Winck","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70245","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The rising frequency of extreme climate events requires sustainable strategies to secure food production. Environmental stress impacts seed germination and seedling development, posing a significant agricultural challenge. To address this, we developed and applied iron-based nanoparticles (Bio-NPs) synthesized through green biosynthesis from Haematococcus pluvialis, a microalga rich in antioxidants like astaxanthin. These Bio-NPs, approximately 21 nm in diameter and characterized by a negative surface charge, were used as priming agents for maize seeds. Their effects on physiological traits were analyzed with multispectral imaging, showing enhanced normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and chlorophyll levels in maize seedlings, highlighting Bio-NPs as effective biostimulants. Among the tested concentrations, 6 mM Bio-NPs yielded the most substantial improvements in seedling health compared to unprimed and hydro-primed groups. Importantly, in vitro studies confirmed that Bio-NPs had no harmful effects on beneficial bacteria and fungi of agronomic importance, underscoring their safety. Although the exact biological pathways responsible for these enhancements are yet to be fully understood, further research into plant responses to Bio-NPs could yield new insights into plant biostimulation. Bio-NPs thus hold promises for strengthening seedling resilience under extreme environmental scenarios, currently observed due to global climate change, offering a safe, sustainable approach to agricultural enhancement. By leveraging microalgae-based biostimulants, this work advances seed priming technology, fostering crop resilience and supporting environmentally friendly agricultural practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70245"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12044640/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144033853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Photoprotective Responses of Cotton Non-Leaf Green Tissues to Short-Term Low-Temperature Stress.","authors":"Pei Yang, Shuhao Lv, Fubin Liang, Jingshan Tian, Yali Zhang, Chuangdao Jiang, Wangfeng Zhang","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70246","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Short-term low-temperature stress during the flowering and boll-forming stages significantly inhibits cotton growth and yield. While leaf photosynthesis is a major contributor to cotton yield, non-leaf green tissues (bracts and bolls) also play a crucial role. However, the differential impacts of short-term low-temperature stress on the photosynthetic activity of these tissues and their protective mechanisms remain underexplored. In this study, the cotton cultivar \"Xinluzao 45\" was subjected to three temperature regimes in a controlled climate chamber: Control (30°C/20°C), T1 (16°C/10°C), and T2 (12°C/8°C). After two days of treatment, pigment content, photosynthetic activity, light energy distribution, and cyclic electron flow (CEF) around photosystem I were analyzed in both leaf and non-leaf green tissues. Results showed that short-term low-temperature stress decreased the maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm), actual photochemical efficiency [Y(II)], and maximum photo-oxidizable P700 (Pm) in both leaf and non-leaf green tissues. Compared to leaves and bracts, cotton boll shells exhibited greater photosynthetic stability, which was related to their higher carotenoid (Car) content, larger plastoquinone (PQ) pool, and enhanced CEF capacity under stress. Chemical inhibitor experiments (using antimycin A and rotenone) indicated that PGRL1/PGR5-mediated CEF plays a more critical role than the NDH pathway in cotton's response to short-term low-temperature stress. These findings highlight the distinct photoprotective advantages of cotton bolls and provide insights for breeding low-temperature-tolerant cultivars and improving management practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70246"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144028715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muhammad Nadeem, Noman Shakoor, Muhammad Adeel, Imran Azeem, Muhammad Zain, Yuanbo Li, Usama Zaheer, Jazib Javed, Rabia Khalid, Peng Zhang, Iseult Lynch, Yukui Rui
{"title":"Environmental and safety aspects of nanotechnology in genetically modified crops for sustainable agriculture.","authors":"Muhammad Nadeem, Noman Shakoor, Muhammad Adeel, Imran Azeem, Muhammad Zain, Yuanbo Li, Usama Zaheer, Jazib Javed, Rabia Khalid, Peng Zhang, Iseult Lynch, Yukui Rui","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70239","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The rising global demand for food poses a significant threat to environmental health through both biotic (e.g., pests, pathogens) and abiotic (e.g., drought, salinity) stresses. Therefore, the adoption of innovative strategies is essential to ensure the sustainability of agricultural practices and to enhance crop resilience against environmental challenges. This review investigates how the integration of nanotechnology with genetically modified (GM) crops can offer solutions to agricultural challenges by improving crop resilience and productivity. While genetic modification has faced limitations in achieving consistent results due to environmental variability and species-specific differences, nanotechnology has emerged as a transformative tool to enhance GM crop performance. In this study we critically explore the underlying mechanisms of combining nanotechnology with GM crops to enhance plant growth and development and their resilience against biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, nanotechnology also play a crucial role in targeted gene delivery, precise genome editing, and controlled regulation of gene expression in GM plant cells. Overall, the emerging role of nanotechnology in GM crops is paving the way for innovative solutions in agriculture. By leveraging nanotechnology, researchers are exploring novel approaches to enhance productivity, combat plant diseases, and improve plant resilience to environmental stress for sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, in this review we also highlighted the environmental impacts and safety issues associated with using nanotechnology in crops in order to establish more resilient and sustainable farming practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70239"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144035646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ranjita Sinha, María Ángeles Peláez-Vico, Felix B Fritschi, Ron Mittler
{"title":"Differential transpiration occurs in soybean under a wide range of water deficit and heat stress combination conditions.","authors":"Ranjita Sinha, María Ángeles Peláez-Vico, Felix B Fritschi, Ron Mittler","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70251","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Differential transpiration is a newly discovered acclimation strategy of annual plants that mitigates the negative impacts of combined water deficit (WD) and heat stress (HS) on plant reproduction. Under conditions of WD + HS, transpiration of vegetative tissues is suppressed in plants such as soybean and tomato, while transpiration of reproductive tissues is not (termed 'Differential Transpiration'; DT). This newly identified acclimation process enables the cooling of reproductive organs under conditions of WD + HS, limiting HS-induced damage to plant reproduction. However, the thresholds at which DT remains active and effectively cools reproductive tissues, as well as the developmental stages at which it is activated in soybean, remain unknown. Here, we report that DT occurs at most nodes (leaf developmental stages) of soybean plants subjected to WD + HS, and that it can function under extreme conditions of WD + HS (i.e., 18% of field water capacity and 42°C combined). Our findings reveal that DT is an effective acclimation strategy that protects reproductive processes from extreme conditions of WD + HS at almost all developmental stages. In addition, our findings suggest that, under field conditions, DT could also be active in plants subjected to low or mild levels of WD during a heat wave.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70251"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144037937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jaime Puértolas, Pedro Castro-Valdecantos, Alfonso Albacete, Ian C Dodd
{"title":"Differential xylem phytohormone export from dry and wet roots during partial rootzone drying is independent of shoot-to-root transport in soybean.","authors":"Jaime Puértolas, Pedro Castro-Valdecantos, Alfonso Albacete, Ian C Dodd","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70252","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Different phytohormones can act as root-to-shoot signalling molecules in response to soil drying. Recent findings suggest that root ABA levels are predominantly leaf-sourced and not locally synthesized, thus, ABA exported from the roots in the xylem is mostly recycled from the shoot. To explain the differential root hormone accumulation observed under partial rootzone drying (PRD) that imposes distinct dry and wet parts of the root zone, we grafted \"two-root, one-shoot\" soybean plants to independently assess xylem export of different phytohormones from either part of the root zone. Grafts were subjected to a combination of girdling (either part, all, or none of the rootzone) and irrigation (homogenously well-watered (WW) and PRD). PRD did not increase foliar ABA but decreased stomatal conductance, attributed to decreased leaf water potential and/or increased xylem sap ABA, JA, or ACC concentrations. In contrast, the foliar ABA increments that accompanied girdling-induced stomatal closure were proportional to the root fraction to which phloem transport was interrupted. Irrespective of girdling, root ABA accumulation (and xylem ABA export from) was highest in the dry PRD rootzone, xylem jasmonic acid (JA) in the wet PRD rootzone, and xylem ACC in both rootzones of PRD plants. Thus, soil drying of the dry root zone and transient overwatering of the wet root zone enhanced ACC export in PRD plants. We conclude that root water status during PRD enhances root ABA, JA and ACC synthesis and xylem export, independent of shoot-to-root transport.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70252"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12041630/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144049930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eva Cañizares, Luca Giovannini, Berivan Ozlem Gumus, Vasileios Fotopoulos, Raffaella Balestrini, Miguel González-Guzmán, Vicent Arbona
{"title":"Seeds of Change: exploring the transformative effects of seed priming in sustainable agriculture.","authors":"Eva Cañizares, Luca Giovannini, Berivan Ozlem Gumus, Vasileios Fotopoulos, Raffaella Balestrini, Miguel González-Guzmán, Vicent Arbona","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70226","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The threats posed by climate change on agriculture at a global scale have fostered researchers to explore new and efficient strategies to ensure stable and safe food production. These new strategies must not only be efficient in reducing yield loss but also comply with environmental and consumer safety regulations, which particularly refer to restrictions to pesticide application as well as the implementation of genetically modified organisms, including CRISPR/Cas edited lines. Among other approaches, priming constitutes an easier and relatively cheaper strategy to cope with the effects of abiotic and biotic stresses by boosting plants' endogenous potential. Particularly, pre-sowing seed priming has proven effective in improving germination and seedling establishment as well as tolerance to environmental and biotic factors throughout the plant's life cycle, exhibiting clear long-lasting effects. This tolerance response to a wide range of adverse factors is associated with physiological, metabolic and genetic mechanisms and responses at the seed level and subsequently in the established plant. The genetic and epigenetic mechanisms enabling this tolerance response in plants and their subsequent generation, as a transgenerational effect, will be reviewed. Finally, the potential of the different seed priming approaches contributing to an ecologically and economically more sustainable agriculture will be discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70226"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12062858/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144027456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mohamed A El-Esawi, Hayssam M Ali, Enas M El-Ballat
{"title":"AtWRKY30 transcription factor mitigates chromium and salt toxicity and induces resistance against bacterial leaf blight and stripe rust in wheat.","authors":"Mohamed A El-Esawi, Hayssam M Ali, Enas M El-Ballat","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70243","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chromium (Cr) and salt stresses restrict wheat growth and yield globally. Wheat crops are also adversely affected by bacterial leaf blight and stripe rust caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (Pss) and Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), respectively. WRKY transcription factors revealed great potential in elevating crop resistance to environmental factors. This study assessed the roles of Arabidopsis WRKY30 (AtWRKY30) in regulating wheat tolerance to Cr toxicity, salt stress, bacterial leaf blight and stripe rust. Wild-type and AtWRKY30-overexpressing wheat plants were exposed to non-stressful conditions, Cr toxicity (0.5 mM K<sub>2</sub>Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>), salt stress (150 mM NaCl), and pathogen infections (Pss or Pst). The results indicated that Cr and salt stresses restricted the growth and reduced the level of chlorophyll, gas exchange rates and potassium content in wheat plants. However, under Cr and salt toxicity, AtWRKY30 overexpression in wheat significantly reduced the levels of oxidative stress biomarkers and minerals (Cr, sodium, and chloride), augmented the growth and yield components, and enhanced the levels of chlorophyll, potassium, gas exchange, osmoprotectants, enzymatic antioxidants, redox components, and expression of stress-related genes compared to wild-type plants. AtWRKY30 overexpression also significantly reduced bacterial leaf blight and stripe rust symptoms in wheat plants infected with Pss and Pst, respectively. Overall, this research demonstrated the effective roles of AtWRKY30 in enhancing wheat tolerance to Cr toxicity, salinity, bacterial leaf blight and stripe rust, indicating its general effect on stress tolerance and redox regulation. Hence, AtWRKY30 can be employed as a promising candidate gene to further boost crop stress tolerance.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70243"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144029196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fayas Thayale Purayil, Mariam Alzaabi, Shina Sasi, Saranya Krishnan, Zarreen Badar, Ling Li, Martin Kottackal, Khaled M A Amiri
{"title":"Genetic modification of Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), a genoprotective perennial leafy green.","authors":"Fayas Thayale Purayil, Mariam Alzaabi, Shina Sasi, Saranya Krishnan, Zarreen Badar, Ling Li, Martin Kottackal, Khaled M A Amiri","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70257","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Improvement of leafy greens, especially perennials with year-round harvesting, is binding to the food security drive. \"Food for All\" by WHO demands the improvement of regional crops due to the agroclimatic specificity to ensure regional food security. Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) is a perennial nutritious leafy green with regional/ethnic cultivation. We accomplished organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis from different explants of I. aquatica, and transgenesis and genome editing through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The Ipomoea Basal (CLC-CP) medium was superior to the Murashige and Skoog medium. Hypocotyl explants produced a mean of 12.4 shoots on CLC-CP containing 4.5 μM thidiazuron and 8.7 μM gibberellic acid (GA<sub>3</sub>), 50 mg l<sup>-1</sup> ascorbic acid (AA), and 100 mg l<sup>-1</sup> adenine hemi-sulfate (AdS). Leaf and root explants induced the highest somatic embryos on a medium containing AdS, AA, 4.4/4.7 μM 6-benzyladenine/kinetin (KIN), and 0.45 μM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. CLC-CP medium with 4.7 μM KIN, 8.7 μM GA<sub>3</sub>, AA, and AdS exhibited elongation of hypocotyl-derived shoots and maturation of somatic embryos. A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation of hypocotyl developed a mean of 3.7 GFP expressing shoots per explant; leaf and root produced 4.3 and 3.1 somatic embryos, respectively. A. rhizogenes infection induced a mean of 4.1 and 3.4 hairy roots from leaf and root explants, respectively. Western blotting of the GFP protein validates water spinach to express human therapeutic proteins. Genome editing of IaNAP1 using hypocotyl explants confirmed the reproducibility of transformation. The plantlets exhibited 100% survival in soil. The present protocol is useful for improving this ethnic leafy green with traits-of-interest.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70257"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12052931/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143993960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chunyue Yang, Zishu Tang, Genxu Wang, Arthur Gessler, Biying Zhai, Shouqin Sun, Zhaoyong Hu
{"title":"Age-Dependent Variations in Xylem Hydraulic Efficiency and Safety of Abies fabri.","authors":"Chunyue Yang, Zishu Tang, Genxu Wang, Arthur Gessler, Biying Zhai, Shouqin Sun, Zhaoyong Hu","doi":"10.1111/ppl.70271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70271","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The impact of aging on the hydraulic functions of entire trees is crucial for accurately forecasting the productivity and expansion of mature forests. Nevertheless, it is not well understood whether and how the hydraulic properties of subalpine conifers evolve as they age. To investigate this, we evaluated the hydraulic and embolic properties of the roots and stems of Abies fabri at three different stand ages and assessed their safety and efficiency tradeoffs and vulnerability segmentation. In the mature stand, root and stem hydraulic conductivity reached maximum values of 3.18 × 10<sup>-2</sup> kg m s<sup>-1</sup> MPa<sup>-1</sup> and 3.54 × 10<sup>-2</sup> kg m s<sup>-1</sup> MPa<sup>-1</sup>, respectively. There was a clear tradeoff between hydraulic safety and efficiency in the root xylem, while this tradeoff was relatively weak in the stem xylem. Specifically, stems exhibited the strongest embolism resistance, with the lowest percentage of hydraulic loss and the highest water potential, and the water potential at 50% loss of conductivity (P<sub>50</sub>) value reached a minimum of -2.55 MPa in the mature stand. In the roots, however, the age-dependent embolism resistance was strongest in middle-aged stands, with a P<sub>50</sub> value of -1.86 MPa. The hydraulic vulnerability segmentation mechanism changed as the trees grew, showing positive segmentation at young and mature ages (P<sub>50root-stem</sub> > 0) and negative segmentation (P<sub>50root-stem</sub> < 0) in middle-aged stands. These results imply that the vertical variation in hydraulic traits of A. fabri as they age serves an adaptive purpose, enabling trees to achieve greater heights and enhance their hydraulic thresholds, which is vital for plant health optimization.</p>","PeriodicalId":20164,"journal":{"name":"Physiologia plantarum","volume":"177 3","pages":"e70271"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144021025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}