Department of Science and Technology, University of Sannio, Benevento 82100, Italy.
Funct Plant Biol. 2024 Feb;51. doi: 10.1071/FP23151.
Drought stress is increasing in frequency and severity with the progression of global climate change, thereby becoming a major concern for the growth and yield of crop plants, including wheat. The current challenge is to explore different ways of developing wheat genotypes with increased tolerance to drought. Therefore, we renewed interest in 'ancient' varieties expected to be more tolerant to environmental stress than the few elite varieties nowadays cultivated. This study aimed to perform comparative analysis of the effect of drought-simulating polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) treatment on morpho-anatomical and physiological foliar traits of two durum wheat seedlings cultivars, Saragolla and Svevo, as these can reflect the adaptability of the plant to the environment to a certain extent. Results demonstrated that drought-stressed Saragolla leaves exhibited a greater reduction of stomatal density, a minor reduction of stomatal pore width, a wider xylem vessel mean area, greater compactness of mesophyll cells, a minor loss of chlorophyll content, as well as better photosynthetic and growth performance compared to the other variety. From such behaviours, we consider the Saragolla cultivar more drought tolerant than Svevo and therefore probably very promising for cultivation in dry areas.
随着全球气候变化的发展，干旱胁迫的频率和强度都在增加，因此成为包括小麦在内的作物生长和产量的主要关注点。目前的挑战是探索开发具有更高耐旱性的小麦基因型的不同方法。因此，我们重新关注那些预计比现在少数几个精英品种更能耐受环境压力的“古老”品种。本研究旨在对两个硬粒小麦品种（Saragolla 和 Svevo）幼苗进行比较分析，以评估干旱模拟聚乙二醇（PEG-6000）处理对其形态解剖和叶片生理特性的影响，因为这些特性在一定程度上可以反映植物对环境的适应能力。结果表明，与另一个品种相比，干旱胁迫下的 Saragolla 叶片的气孔密度降低幅度更大，气孔孔径宽度降低幅度更小，木质部导管平均面积更大，叶肉细胞更紧密，叶绿素含量损失更小，光合作用和生长性能更好。从这些行为来看，我们认为 Saragolla 品种比 Svevo 品种更耐旱，因此可能非常适合在干旱地区种植。
