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JXB Advance Access published online on October 27, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erp314
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Constitutive water-conserving mechanisms are correlated with the terminal drought tolerance of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]

Jana Kholová1,2, C. Tom Hash1, Aparna Kakkera1, Marie Kocová2 and Vincent Vadez1,*

1International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India
2Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Vinicná 5, 128 43 Prague, Czech Republic

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: v.vadez{at}cgiar.org

Pearl millet, a key staple crop of the semi-arid tropics, is mostly grown in water-limited conditions, and improving its performance depends on how genotypes manage limited water resources. This study investigates whether the control of water loss under non-limiting water conditions is involved in the terminal drought tolerance of pearl millet. Two pairs of tolerantxsensitive pearl millet genotypes, PRLT 2/89-33–H77/833-2 and 863B-P2–ICMB 841-P3, and near-isogenic lines (NILs), introgressed with a terminal drought tolerance quantitative trait locus (QTL) from the donor parent PRLT 2/89-33 into H77/833-2 (NILs-QTL), were tested. Upon exposure to water deficit, transpiration began to decline at lower fractions of transpirable soil water (FTSW) in tolerant than in sensitive genotypes, and NILs-QTL followed the pattern of the tolerant parents. The transpiration rate (Tr, in g water loss cm–2 d–1) under well-watered conditions was lower in tolerant than in sensitive parental genotypes, and the Tr of NILs-QTL followed the pattern of the tolerant parents. In addition, Tr measured in detached leaves (g water loss cm–2 h–1) from field-grown plants of the parental lines showed lower Tr values in tolerant parents. Defoliation led to an increase in Tr that was higher in sensitive than in tolerant genotypes. The differences in Tr between genotypes was not related to the stomatal density. These results demonstrate that constitutive traits controlling leaf water loss under well-watered conditions correlate with the terminal drought tolerance of pearl millet. Such traits may lead to more water being available for grain filling under terminal drought.

Key words: Drought stress, fraction of transpirable soil water, pearl millet, stomatal density, transpiration rate

Received 9 July 2009; Revised 29 September 2009 Accepted 1 October 2009


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