Summary
Tradescantia virginiana L. plants were cultivated under contrasting conditions of temperature, humidity, light quality and intensity, and nutrient status in order to investigate the effect of growth conditions on the water relations parameters of the leaf epidermal cells. Turgor pressure (P), volumetric elastic modulus (ɛ), half-time of water potential equilibration (T 1/2), hydraulic conductivity (L p ) were measured with the miniaturized pressure probe in single cells of the upper and lower epidermis of leaves. Turgor differed (range: 0.1 bar to 7.2 bar) between treatments with lowest values under warm and humid conditions and additional supply of fertilizer, and highest values under conditions of low air humidity and low nutrient supply. The volumetric elastic modulus changed by 2 orders of magnitude (range: 3.0 bar to 350 bar, 158 cells), but ɛ was only affected by the treatments, in as much as it was dependent on turgor. The turgor dependence of ɛ, measured on intact leaves of T. virginiana, was similar to that for cells of the isolated (peeled) lower epidermis, where ɛ as a function of turgor was linear over the whole range of turgors. This result has implications for the discussion of pressure/volume curves as measured by the pressure bomb where changes in “bulk leaf ɛ” are frequently discussed as “adaptations” to certain treatments. The measurements of the hydraulic conductivity indicate that this parameter varies between treatments (range of means: 2.4×10-6 cm s-1 bar-1 to 13.4×10-6 cm s-1 bar-1). There was a negative correlation for L p in cells of intact leaves as a function of turgor which was altered by the growing conditions. However, a correlation with turgor could not be found for cells from isolated epidermis or cells from a uniform population of plants. The large variation in L p from cell to cell observed in the present and in previous studies was accounted for in a study of 100 cells from a uniform population of plants by the propagation of measurement errors in calculating L p . The results suggest that in T. virginiana cellular water relations are changed mainly by the turgor dependence of ɛ.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Campbell GS, Papendick RI, Rabie E, Shayo-Ngowi AJ (1979) A comparison of osmotic potential, elastic modulus and apoplastic water in leaves of dryland winter wheat. Agron J 71:31–36
Cheung YNS, Tyree MT, Dainty J (1976) Some possible sources of error in determining bulk elastic moduli and other parameters from pressure-volume curves of shoots and leaves. Can J Bot 54:758–765
Cutler JM, Shahan KW, Steponkus PL (1979) Characterization of internal water relations of rice by a pressure-volume method. Crop Sci 19:681–685
Dainty J (1976) Water relations of plant cells. In: Transport in Plants II, Part A: “Cells”. U Lüttge, MG Pitman (eds) Encycl Plant Physiol, New Ser, Vol 2A, pp 12–35
Elston JF, Karamanos AJ, Kassam AH, Wadsworth RM (1976) The water relations of field bean crop. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 273:581–591
Hsiao TC, Oliveira EC, Hall WM (1978) Adaptation of cotton leaves to water stress. Plant Physiol 61:80 (Suppl)
Hüsken D, Steudle E, Zimmermann U (1978) Pressure probe technique for measuring water relations of cells in higher plants. Plant Physiol 61:158–163
Jones MM, Turner NC (1978) Osmotic adjustment in leaves of sorghum in response to water deficits. Plant Physiol 61:122–126
Jones MM, Turner NC (1980) Osmotic adjustment in expanding and fully expanded leaves of sunflower in response to water deficits. Aust J Plant Physiol 7:181–192
Kassam AH, Elston JF (1974) Seasonal changes in the status of water and tissue characteristics of leaves of Vicia faba L. Ann Bot 38:419–429
Kreyszig E (1977) Statistische Methoden und ihre Anwendungen. Wandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen
Meidner H, Bannister P (1979) Pressure and solute potentials in stomatal cells of Tradescantia virginiana. J exp Bot 30:255–266
Melkonian JJ, Wolfe J, Steponkus PL (1982) Determination of volumetric modulus of elasticity of wheat leaves by pressure-volume relations and the effect of drought conditioning. Crop Sci 22:116–123
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1969) Biometry. WH Freeman and Co, San Francisco
Steudle E, Zimmermann U (1974) Determination of the hydraulic conductivity and of reflection coefficients in Nitella flexilis by means of direct cell-turgor pressure measurements. Biochim Biophys Acta 332:399–412
Steudle E, Zimmermann U, Lüttge U (1977) Effect of turgor pressure and cell size on the wall elasticity of plant cells. Plant Physiol 59:285–289
Steudle E, Smith JAC, Lüttge U (1980) Water relation parameters of individual mesophyll cells of the CAM plant Kalanchoë daigremontiana. Plant Physiol 66:1155–1163
Steudle E, Zimmermann U, Zillikens J (1982) Effect of turgor on hydraulic conductivity and elastic modulus of Elodea leaf cells. Planta 154:371–380
Steudle E, Tyerman SD, Wendler S (1983a) Water relations of plant cells. In: Effects of stress on photosynthesis, Marcelle R, Clijsters H, Poucke M van (eds), Martinus Nijhoff-Junk Publishers, Den Haag, pp 95–109
Steudle E, Ziegler H, Zimmermann U (1983b) Water relations of the epidermal bladder cells of Oxalis carnosa Molina. Planta 159:38–45
Strauch L (1965) Ultramikro-Methode zur Bestimmung des Stickstoffes in biologischem Material. Zeitschr Klin Chem 3:165–167
Tomos AD, Steudle E, Zimmermann U, Schulze E-D (1981) Water relations of leaf epidermal cells of Tradescantia virginiana. Plant Physiol 68:1135–1143
Tyerman SD (1982) Water relations of seagrasses. Stationary volumetric elastic modulus and osmotic pressure of the leaf cells of Halophila ovalis, Zostera capricorni and Posidonia australis. Plant Physiol 69:957–965
Tyerman SD, Steudle E (1982) Comparison between osmotic and hydrostatic water flows in a higher plant cell: Determination of hydraulic conductivities and reflection coefficients in isolated epidermis of Tradescantia virginiana. Aust J Plant Physiol 9:461–479
Tyree MT, Cheung YNS (1977) Resistance to water flow in Fagus grandifolia leaves. Can J Bot 55:2591–2599
Wenkert W, Lemon ER, Sinclair TR (1978) Water content-potential relationship in soya bean: Changes in component potentials for mature and immature leaves under field conditions. Ann Bot 42:295–307
Wilson JR, Ludlow MM, Fisher MJ, Schulze E-D (1980) Adaptation to water stress of the leaf water relations of four tropical forage species. Aust J Plant Physiol 7:207–220
Ziegler R, Egle K (1965) Zur quantitativen Analyse der Chloroplastenpigmente. 1. Kritische Überprüfung der spektralphotometrischen Chlorophyllbestimmung. Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen 41:11–37
Zimmermann U, Steudle E (1974) The pressure dependence of the hydraulic conductivity, the cell membrane resistance and the membrane potential during turgor pressure regulation in Valonia utricularis. J. Membrane Biol 16:331–352
Zimmermann U, Steudle E (1978) Physical aspects of water relations of plant cells. Adv Bot Res 6:45–117
Zimmermann U, Steudle E (1980) Fundamental water relations parameters. In: Plant Membrane Transport: Current Conceptual Issues. RM Spanswick, WJ Lucas, J Dainty (eds), Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press, Amsterdam, pp 113–127
Zimmermann U, Hüsken D, Schulze E-D (1980) Direct turgor pressure measurements in individual leaf cells of Tradescantia virginiana. Planta 149:445–453
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brinckmann, E., Tyerman, S.D., Steudle, E. et al. The effect of different growing conditions on water relations parameters of leaf epidermal cells of Tradescantia virginiana L.. Oecologia 62, 110–117 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377383
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377383