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Chlorophyll fluorescence technique as a rapid tool for in vitro screening of olive cultivars ( Olea europaea L.) tolerant to drought stress
▶ We used Chl fluorescence measurements to monitor drought stress in olive plants. ▶ F v/F m was an useful parameter for screening in vitro olive cvs tolerant to drought. ▶ In vitro measurements on detached leaves could be translated to whole olive plants. The olive tree ( Olea europaea), a represen...
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Published in: | Environmental and experimental botany 2011-11, Vol.73, p.49-56 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
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Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | ▶ We used Chl fluorescence measurements to monitor drought stress in olive plants. ▶ F
v/F
m was an useful parameter for screening
in vitro olive cvs tolerant to drought. ▶
In vitro measurements on detached leaves could be translated to whole olive plants.
The olive tree (
Olea europaea), a representative drought-stress-tolerant plant, is one of the most typical and economically important plant species grown in the Mediterranean area. As olive cultivars may exhibit a different level of drought tolerance, the selection of the most drought-tolerant cultivars acquires relevance. For this purpose the use of a chlorophyll fluorescence technique can be considered to be a promising tool, in order to rapidly quantify the response to physiological stress in higher plants.
The aim of this study was to determine whether the information obtained with chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, carried out on detached olive leaves subjected to dehydration
in vitro, could be translated
in vivo to whole olive plants. For the
in vitro measurements, a screening was carried out on detached leaves of 24 olive cultivars which were subjected to dehydration in an environmentally controlled growth chamber. The results showed that
in vitro measurements were effective in evidencing sizeable differences in the
F
v/
F
m ratio decline among the cultivars during the dehydration time period. Within 24
h, a strong decline in both the
F
v/
F
m ratio and the leaf fresh weight could be appreciated. Indeed, the
F
v/
F
m ratio decreased by 90% in the “susceptible” cultivars, whereas the “tolerant” ones did not show any decrease in
F
v/
F
m. These results were confirmed by further measurements, which were carried out during the subsequent period under stress conditions and evidenced three different levels of “putative” drought tolerance. In accordance with this screening, six cultivars, defined as “putative” drought-tolerant (
Maurino and
Ascolana tenera), “intermedium” (
Leccino and
Nocellara del Belice), and “susceptible” (
Carolea and
Biancolilla), were selected for the
in vivo trials. The cultivars chosen were subjected to 28 days of severe water stress in a greenhouse. The
in vivo measurements pointed out that the response of the whole plants to drought was correlated to the level of tolerance to leaf dehydration observed
in vitro. For example, the
Biancolilla and
Carolea were found to be the most sensitive to drought stress, while
Ascolana tenera and
Maurino showed the highest level of toler |
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ISSN: | 0098-8472 1873-7307 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2010.10.011 |