Influence of desiccation and water deficit on the initial development of seedlings of Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Beth. Hook. and S. Moore (Bignoniaceae)

Abstract

Desiccation tolerance mechanisms are one of the main factors related to the ability to survive water deficit conditions imposed by abiotic stress. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the desiccation tolerance and the influence of water deficit on the initial development of Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Benth. & Hook.f. ex S. Moore. The seedlings were divided into two treatments the control and those that were submitted to 50% desiccation. The control groups received water daily over a period of 30 days, while the groups that underwent water deficit had water suspension for 14 days, totaling two cycles of water deficit over a period of 30 days. The results of this study indicate that seedlings of T. aurea survive desiccation and present less development, whether of the stem, roots, number of leaves, stem diameter when subjected to desiccation and consequent water deficit. Thus, these results indicate that the reduction in early development is related to the perception and attenuation of stressful conditions imposed by the abiotic environment during development.