Abstract
ABSTRACT The use of water-retaining polymer (hydrogel) can mitigate the damage to the photosynthetic apparatus and increase the robustness of young plants under water deficit conditions. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of water-retaining polymer on the morphophysiological aspects of Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi submitted to water deficit. The studied water regimes were characterized by three plant irrigation management: 1) control: irrigated daily, 2) stress: water deficit (irrigation suspension) and 3) stress + hydrogel: water deficit + water-retaining polymer. The plants were submitted to irrigation suspension until photosynthesis approached zero [1st P0], followed by resumption of irrigation (REI) for 15 days. After REI, until recovery of photosynthetic rate of plants, the maintenance of irrigation of all plants for 90 days, characterizing the final recovery (125th day of experiment). The photosynthetic rate reached values close to zero in plants under stress on the 20th day of water restriction, whereas the plants in conditions with hydrogel did not show a decrease in leaf metabolism. Excluding intercellular CO2 concentration, physiological parameters were lower on 1st P0 in plants under water deficit grown without hydrogel than those in plants grown with hydrogel, but all plants showed physiological plasticity. The use hydrogel contributed to the maintenance of the photosynthetic capacity of S. terebinthifolia under water deficit.
Highlights
Tropical regions, the Cerrado ecoregion, are characterized by different vegetation types and climatic seasonality that are caused by water fluctuations, leading to water deficit in certain periods of the year as a consequence of precipitation fluctuations (Fonseca et al, 2017)
The plants subjected to daily irrigation and stress + hydrogel maintained their A values, indicating that the addition of hydrogel effectively contributed to the maintenance of water conditions in the plant, thereby preventing dehydration
When performing the resumption of irrigation (REI), we observed an increase in A in all plants, including those that were only subjected to stress, which maintained lower REI values when compared to the other plants in this period, obtaining values similar to the other plants only at the end of the experiment, extending the period required for recovery (REC)
Summary
The Cerrado ecoregion, are characterized by different vegetation types and climatic seasonality that are caused by water fluctuations, leading to water deficit in certain periods of the year as a consequence of precipitation fluctuations (Fonseca et al, 2017). The low water availability in the soils of the Cerrado region can cause functional and metabolic damage to plants, such as stomatal closure, reduced Rubisco carboxylation efficiency, and increased intercellular CO2 concentration and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby compromising plant photosynthetic capacity and growth (França et al, 2017; Resende et al, 2019). Adverse environmental conditions may hinder the survival success and initial establishment of plants in priority reforestation areas, during the recovery of degraded areas, and in integrated sustainable production systems. In this sense, it is necessary to establish the technologies that can mitigate the harmful effects of water deficit in young plants, because they need to maintain their physiological processes and production of photoassimilates, especially in the implementation phase. Information on the ecophysiology of fruit tree species in the seedling phase associated with the use of hydrogels is scarce
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