Morpholoical and enzymatic responses to waterlogging in three Prunus species

Abstract

Anaerobic respiration is an important mechanism for plants to address energy deficiency under waterlogged (WL) conditions, when aerobic respiration is limited. Seedlings of three Prunus species—Prunus mira Koehne, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, and Prunus amygdalus (L.)—were irrigated at 60% water (control) or waterlogged (100%) daily for 27 days, to investigate root morphological parameters and dynamics of anaerobic respiration enzymes. Both P. mira and P. persica had significantly increased the leaf number and plant height than P. amygdalus under WL. Additionally, WL decreased leaf chlorophyll content in P. mira and P. amygdalus significantly more than in P. persica. Root pyruvate carboxylase (PDC), alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities first increased before decreasing under WL treatments. In P. persica, root PDC activity was significantly higher than in P. mira and P. amygdalus at 9 d and 21 d, whereas ADH activity was higher at 15 d, 21 d, and 27 d. Moreover, throughout the experiment, LDH activity was significantly higher in P. persica than in P. mira and P. amygdalus roots under WL treatments. The activities of all three measured enzymes were positively and significantly correlated. We suggest that, because of interspecific variation in root metabolic response to different environmental conditions, P. mira and P. persica may generate more energy anaerobically through EMP than through lactic-acid metabolism, whereas P. amygdalus was the reverse. We conclude that WL tolerance differed across the three Prunus, with P. persica being the most tolerant, followed by P. mira, and finally P. amygdalus.