Institute of Viticulture and Pomology, University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna, Tulln, Austria.
Institute of Botany, University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Physiol Plant. 2021 Dec;173(4):2181-2190. doi: 10.1111/ppl.13567. Epub 2021 Oct 1.
Plant stress experiments are commonly performed with plants grown in containers to better control environmental conditions. Nevertheless, the container can constrain plant growth and development, and this confounding effect is generally ignored, particularly in studies on woody species. Here, we evaluate the effect of the container volume in drought experiments using grapevine as a model plant. Grapevines grown in small (7 L, S) or large (20 L, L) containers were subjected to drought stress and rewatering treatments. We monitored plant stomatal conductance (g ), midday stem water potential (Ψ ), and photosynthetic rate (A ) throughout the experiment. The effect of the container volume on the stem and petiole xylem anatomy, as well as on the total leaf area (LA), was assessed before drought imposition. The results showed that LA did not differ between plants in L or S containers, but S vines exhibited a higher theoretical hydraulic conductance at the petiole level. Under drought L and S similarly reduced g and A , but plants in S containers reached lower Ψ than those in L. Nevertheless, upon rewatering droughted plants in S containers exhibited a faster stomata re-opening than those in L, probably as a consequence of the differences in the stress degree experienced and the biochemical adjustment at the leaf level. Therefore, a suitable experimental design should consider the container volume used in relation to the desired traits to be studied for unbiased results.
植物胁迫实验通常在容器中种植植物来更好地控制环境条件。然而，容器会限制植物的生长和发育，而这种混杂效应通常被忽略，特别是在木本植物的研究中。在这里，我们使用葡萄作为模型植物来评估容器体积在干旱实验中的影响。在小容器（7 L，S）或大容器（20 L，L）中生长的葡萄藤分别接受干旱胁迫和复水处理。我们在整个实验过程中监测植物气孔导度（g）、中午茎水势（Ψ）和光合速率（A）。在施加干旱之前，评估了容器体积对茎和叶柄木质部解剖结构以及总叶面积（LA）的影响。结果表明，L 和 S 容器中的植物 LA 没有差异，但 S 葡萄藤在叶柄水平上表现出更高的理论水力导度。在干旱条件下，L 和 S 同样降低了 g 和 A，但 S 容器中的植物达到的 Ψ比 L 容器中的低。然而，在复水时，S 容器中的干旱植物比 L 容器中的植物更快地重新打开气孔，这可能是由于它们经历的胁迫程度和叶片水平上的生化调节的差异。因此，一个合适的实验设计应该考虑到与期望研究的特征相关的容器体积，以获得无偏的结果。
