C4 maize and sorghum are more sensitive to rapid dehydration than C3 wheat and sunflower

center dot The high productive potential, heat resilience, and greater water use efficiency of C-4 over C-3 plants attract considerable interest in the face of global warming and increasing population, but C-4 plants are often sensitive to dehydration, questioning the feasibility of their wider adoption.center dot To resolve the primary effect of dehydration from slower from secondary leaf responses originating within leaves to combat stress, we conducted an innovative dehydration experiment. Four crops grown in hydroponics were forced to a rapid yet controlled decrease in leaf water potential by progressively raising roots of out of the solution while measuring leaf gas exchange.center dot We show that, under rapid dehydration, assimilation decreased more steeply in C-4 maize and sorghum than in C-3 wheat and sunflower. This reduction was due to a rise of nonstomatal limitation at triple the rate in maize and sorghum than in wheat and sunflower.center dot Rapid reductions in assimilation were previously measured in numerous C-4 species across both laboratory and natural conditions. Hence, we deduce that high sensitivity to rapid dehydration might stem from the disturbance of an intrinsic aspect of C-4 bicellular photosynthesis. We posit that an obstruction to metabolite transport between mesophyll and bundle sheath cells could be the cause.

Automated summary

The high productive potential and heat resilience of C-4 plants attract attention, but their sensitivity to dehydration questions their wider adoption.