Changes of stomatal distribution and leaf thickness in response to transpiration rate in six dicot plant species

Abstract

Changes in leaf anatomy can be influenced by the surrounding environment and several other factors. Shade plants or ornamental plants themselves also have their characteristics in responding to surrounding conditions through transpiration. This study aimed to measure the rate of transpiration related to changes in the distribution of stomata and leaf thickness of six types of dicot ornamental plants and to describe the leaf anatomy of each type. The experiment used Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with six types of plants as treatment with three replications. Transpiration rate was measured by modified lysimeter method, stomatal distribution was calculated from the ratio of the number of stomata to epidermal cells and leaf anatomy was observed using preserved slide made from paraffin method. Data were analyzed by SAS with CRD model and correlation was performed between transpiration rate and leaf thickness. The results showed that the transpiration rate, leaf thickness, and stomatal distribution were significantly different at α = 0.05 amongst plants. The transpiration rate was inversely proportional to leaf thickness with various correlation coefficients. The leaf anatomy of six plant species showed various thicknesses between tissues. Further research needs to be done to explain the rate of transpiration with changes in leaf anatomy.