Hydraulic Resistance of Plants. II. Effects of Rooting Medium, and Time of Day, in Barley and Lupin

Abstract

Barley and lupin plants were grown in pots designed to fit inside a pressure chamber. The pots contained sand, soil, or nutrient solution. Transpiration rates were varied over a wide range. At a given transpiration rate, Q, the balancing pressure, p, of a plant was determined; p is the pneumatic pressure that must be applied to the roots in the pressure chamber to have a cut in the xylem of the shoot on the verge of bleeding. The relation between p and Q, p(Q), was non-linear and hysteretic for solution- grown plants, but was remarkably linear for plants grown in sand or soil, i.e. the data for a given plant on a given occasion conformed closely to the equation p =p_o + rQ, where p_o and r were constants. Even though p(Q) was linear for the plants grown in sand or soil, p_o was often much larger than Δπ, the difference in osmotic pressure between the external solution and the xylem of the root, so that the apparent hydraulic resistance of the plants, i.e. (p-Δπ)/Q, depended strongly on Q. Furthermore, p_o changed diurnally and was typically 100-200 kPa higher in the afternoon than in the morning. These results are discussed in relation to the equations that are commonly used to describe water flow through plants. It is postulated that r represents the true hydraulic resistance of the plant, which is independent of Q in the plants grown in soil or sand but may vary diurnally, and that the discrepancy between p_o and Δπ represents either an additional and hitherto unrecognized difference in osmotic pressure across the membranes of the root that intercept the transpiration stream, or a pressure required to open valves through which the water has to pass, with the valves possibly being located in the plasmodesmata.