Journal
JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY AND CROP SCIENCE
Volume 196, Issue 2, Pages 81-89Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-037X.2009.00391.x
Keywords
Brassica napus; chlorophyll fluorescence; drought stress; invertases; biomass; osmotic adjustment
Categories
Funding
- Bundesministerium fur Verbraucherschutz, Ernahrung und Landwirtschaft
- Ministerium fur Landwirtschaft, Umweltschutz und Raumordnung des Landes Brandenburg
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Periods of drought frequently affect the development of winter rape at the shooting stage in spring. A growth chamber study was conducted to determine the effects of 13 days of strong water deficit at the shooting stage followed by rewatering on oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The osmolality and the efficiency of photosystem II in leaves were measured by means of a vapour pressure osmometer and a chlorophyll fluorometer, respectively. The activities of sucrose cleaving enzymes in leaves were determined through invertase as well as sucrose synthase tests. A higher osmotic pressure was observed 2 days after water deprivation. Extracellular and vacuolar invertases as well as chlorophyll fluorescence were decreased with delay. Rewatering led to a gradual decrease in the osmotic pressure and a delayed increase in the enzyme activities as well as the photosynthetic efficiency. A linear regression model could predict osmolality in well-watered plants based on the extracellular enzyme activity and growth stage. The ontogenetic and stress-related pattern of extracellular invertase activity could indicate a role of this enzyme in balancing source-sink relations. The onset of flowering was not influenced by drought, but the period of this stage was prolonged. Though, the ontogenetic stages of stressed and unstressed plants were the same at the time of harvest, the development of seed biomass was significantly depressed under stress.
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