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Water status of drought-resistant and drought-sensitive sorghum treated with ethephon

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Abstract

The effects of ethephon on stomatal resistance, water potential, osmotic potential, turgor potential, and ethylene production were determined on leaves of a drought-resistant (KS 65) and a drought-sensitive (IA 25) genotype of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] grown under wellwatered or drought-stressed conditions. With both sufficient and limited water supply, ethephon had no effect on the adaxial, abaxial, or total stomatal resistance of either genotype. For both water treatments, the adaxial stomatal resistance of the drought-sensitive genotype was higher than that of the drought-resistant genotype. Ethephon increased the amount of ethylene produced by the plants under both levels of water. For plants with sufficient water, water potentials of both genotypes were lowered by ethephon. Ethephon had no effect on the water potentials under drought or on the osmotic potentials under either water regime. With drought, the turgor potential of the drought-sensitive genotype, but not that of the drought-resistant, was increased by ethephon.

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Author notes

  1. J. Zhang

    Present address: Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, 24 Airport Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People's Republic of China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evapotranspiration Laboratory, Waters Annex, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, 66502, Manhattan, Kansas, USA

    J. Zhang & M. B. Kirkham

Authors
  1. J. Zhang
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  2. M. B. Kirkham
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Additional information

Contribution no. 90-147-J of the Journal Series of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kansas, USA.

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Zhang, J., Kirkham, M.B. Water status of drought-resistant and drought-sensitive sorghum treated with ethephon. J Plant Growth Regul 9, 189–194 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02041961

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02041961

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