Abstract
A study has been undertaken on epicuticular wax on the leaves of 35 woody species in Linares, Northeast Mexico at the experimental station of Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, located in the municipality of Linares. Considerable variation in wax accumulation was found among species showing prominent interspecific variation. Wax load varied from 11.18 to 702.04 μg/cm2 among species studied during summer. Few species selected with high epicuticular wax viz, Forestiera angustifolia (702.04 μg/cm2), Diospyros texana (607.65 μg/cm2), Bernardia myricifolia (437.53 μg/cm2), Leucophylum leucocephala (388.50 μg/cm2), during summer which could well be adapted under semi-arid environments for their efficiency in the reflection of radiation load, reduced transpiration, gas exchange and probably impart drought resistance. The large variations in epicuticular wax could be related to their physiological functions such as transpiration, gas exchange, water relations etc.
Highlights
IntroductionEpicuticular wax enhances the reflectance of visible and near infrared radiation from leaf surface thereby reducing net radiation and cuticular transpiration and seems to contribute drought resistance of plants [5,6,7]
The present study indicated the presence of large variations in the wax contents among the different woody tree species studied
The results reveal that there exists large variability in epicuticular wax accumulation among 35 species
Summary
Epicuticular wax enhances the reflectance of visible and near infrared radiation from leaf surface thereby reducing net radiation and cuticular transpiration and seems to contribute drought resistance of plants [5,6,7]. These waxes impart resistance to plants to absorption and penetration of foliarapplied herbicides [4,8,9]. It has been reported that leaves of mesquite (Prosopis spp.) develop a thick waxy cuticle [10,11]. An increase in wax accumulation was observed with leaf maturity in velvet mesquite (P. velutinu), while [12] observed most rapid wax accumulation on honey mesquite (P. glandulosa) with early leaf development and expansion
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