Abstract
Xylem tracheids are the channels for water transport in conifer. Tracheid flow resistance is composed of tracheid lumen resistance and pit resistance. The single tracheid structure parameters in the stem and root of Sabina chinensis were obtained by dissociation and slicing, combined with numerical simulation to analyze the tracheid flow resistance characteristics. The results showed that the tracheid lumen resistance was determined by the tracheid width and tracheid length. The pit resistance was determined by the number of pits and single pit resistance. The single pit resistance was composed of four elements: the secondary cell wall, the border, the margo and the torus. The margo contributed a relatively large fraction of flow resistance, while the torus, the border and the secondary cell wall formed a small fraction. The size and position of the pores in the margo had a significant effect on the fluid velocity. The number of pits were proportional to tracheid length. The power curve, S-curve and inverse curve were fitted the scatter plot of total pit resistance, total resistance, total resistivity, which was found that there were the negative correlation between them. The three scatter plot values were larger in the stem than in the root, indicating that the tracheid structure in the root was more conducive to water transport than the stem. The ratio of tracheid lumen resistance to pit resistance mainly was less than 0.6 in the stem and less than 1 in the root, indicating that the pit resistance was dominant in the total resistance of the stem and root.
Highlights
Conifers are one of the largest biological communities in the world, and their flow of xylem depends on the adjacent tracheids [1, 2]
The results showed that there was a significant correlation between tracheid length and number of pits in the root and stem of the Sabina chinensis
The torus-margo bordered pit structure of root and stem was similar in the Sabina chinensis, while the size was different
Summary
Conifers are one of the largest biological communities in the world, and their flow of xylem depends on the adjacent tracheids [1, 2]. The restriction imposed by the hydraulic path is considered to be the major constraint on the maximum heights attainable by conifers [3], Tracheids are short conduits relative to vessels, and each single tracheid has tens to hundreds pit structures [4, 5], which connect the tracheids to form the xylem water transport channels. The flow inside the tracheids mainly depends on the tracheid lumen and pit structure [6, 7]. Flow resistance characteristics of xylem tracheid structure spread of embolism [8, 9]. The contribution of tracheid lumen to flow resistance has been largely ignored in describing the water movement of plants’ tracheids [10, 11]
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