Association of carbon isotope discrimination with leaf gas exchange and water use efficiency in maize following soil amendment with superabsorbent hydrogel

Wei Yang and Pin-Fang Li
Additional contact information
Wei Yang: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China
Pin-Fang Li: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China

Plant, Soil and Environment, 2018, vol. 64, issue 10, 484-490

Abstract: The correlation of carbon isotope discrimination (△13C) with photosynthetic gas exchange and water use efficiency (WUE) in maize was investigated under low rainfall conditions with or without superabsorbent polymer (SAP). SAP (45 kg/ha) was mixed into the top 10 cm soil layer at sowing in lysimeters. Compared with the control plants not treated with SAP, the application of SAP increased net photosynthesis rate; stomatal conductance (gs); transpiration rate; chlorophyll content (Chl) and intrinsic water use efficiency at leaf level (WUEi), but decreased intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) and leaf △13C. In plants supplied with SAP, leaf △13C was positively correlated with Ci (r = 0.864, P < 0.01) and negatively correlated with gs and WUEi (r = -0.860 and -0.626, P < 0.01, respectively). Leaf △13C was not correlated with Chl with or without SAP. Grain △13C significantly decreased by 12.4% and showed a significant negative correlation with grain WUE under SAP treatments (r = -0.670, P < 0.05). These results suggest that in the presence of SAP, maize leaf and grain △13C could be good indicators for evaluating maize WUE during periods of low rainfall.

Keywords: water-saving polymer; Zea mays L.; physiological traits; soil moisture; carbon isotope composition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/463/2018-PSE.html (text/html)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/463/2018-PSE.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:64:y:2018:i:10:id:463-2018-pse

DOI: 10.17221/463/2018-PSE

Access Statistics for this article

Plant, Soil and Environment is currently edited by Kateřina Součková

More articles in Plant, Soil and Environment from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().