No escape? Costs and benefits of leaf de-submergence in the pasture grass Chloris gayana under different flooding regimes
Gustavo G. Striker A B E F , Cecilia Casas C , Xiaolin Kuang A B and Agustín A. Grimoldi A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía, Avenuenida San Martín 4453, CPA 1417, DSE Buenos Aires, Argentina.
B Cátedra de Fisiología Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. San Martín 4453 (CPA 1417 DSE) Buenos Aires, Argentina.
C Cátedra de Edafología, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. San Martín 4453 (CPA 1417 DSE) Buenos Aires, Argentina.
D Cátedra de Forrajicultura, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. San Martín 4453 (CPA 1417 DSE) Buenos Aires, Argentina.
E School of Agriculture and Environment, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
F Corresponding author. Email: striker@agro.uba.ar
Functional Plant Biology 44(9) 899-906 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP17128
Submitted: 2 May 2017 Accepted: 20 June 2017 Published: 21 July 2017
Abstract
Elongation-induced leaf emergence is one way for plants to deal with complete submergence by ‘escaping’ from water. This growth strategy is hypothesised to be more beneficial under single long-term submergence than under repeated short-term submergence events (i.e. fluctuating environment), as costs of repeated plant ‘adjustment’ would exceed the initial benefits of shoot elongation. To test this idea, 2-week-old plants of Chloris gayana Kunth. cv. Fine Cut (a submergence-tolerant cultivar first selected by a screening experiment) were grown for 4 weeks under (i) control conditions, (ii) two 1-week submergence cycles, or (iii) one 2-week submergence cycle. Additionally, a set of plants were placed below nettings to assess the cost of remaining forcedly submerged. Impeding leaves emergence through nettings did not compromise survival when submergence was 1-week long, but determined the death of all plants when extended to 2 weeks. Growth as affected by flooding regime revealed that under one 2-week submergence event, plants accumulated a 2.9-fold higher dry mass than when they experienced the same submergence duration in separate events along 1week. The ‘escape’ strategy in the grass C. gayana, by which leaf contact with air is re-established, is essential for its survival, and it is more beneficial for plant growth under long-term submergence than under repeated short-term submergence cycles.
Additional keywords: Chloris gayana cultivars, flooding timing, leaf desiccation, leaf greenness, plant recovery, Rhodes grass, shoot elongation.
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