Metabolic, Nutritional and Morphophysiological Behavior of Eucalypt Genotypes Differing in Dieback Resistance in Field When Submitted to PEG-Induced Water Deficit
Débora Durso Caetano-Madeira,
Rebeca Patricia Omena-Garcia,
Tamiris Lopes Elerati,
Camila Batista da Silva Lopes,
Thais Roseli Corrêa,
Genaína Aparecida de Souza,
Leonardo Araujo Oliveira,
Cosme Damião Cruz,
Leonardo Lopes Bhering,
Adriano Nunes-Nesi,
Weverton Gomes da Costa,
Edgard Augusto de Toledo Picoli
Affiliations
Débora Durso Caetano-Madeira
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Rebeca Patricia Omena-Garcia
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Tamiris Lopes Elerati
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Camila Batista da Silva Lopes
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Thais Roseli Corrêa
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Genaína Aparecida de Souza
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Leonardo Araujo Oliveira
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Cosme Damião Cruz
Departamento de Biologia Geral, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Leonardo Lopes Bhering
Departamento de Biologia Geral, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Adriano Nunes-Nesi
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Weverton Gomes da Costa
Departamento de Estatística, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Edgard Augusto de Toledo Picoli
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, University Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa CEP 36 570 900, MG, Brazil
Dieback is a physiological disorder that has caused losses on eucalyptus plantations. Thinking that water stress is one of the triggers for the physiological disorder and aiming at the early identification of tolerant genotypes, we evaluated plantlets of four commercial clones with divergent behavior in field conditions. The plantlets were grown in a greenhouse where the drought conditions were provided by the application of polyethylene glycol 6000 solutions at 100 and 300 g L−1. After water deficit treatments, the morphological, physiological, nutritional and metabolic analyses were performed. SuzT maintained the carbon fixation and the instantaneous water use efficiency, even under water deficit, while sustaining growth. This resulted in higher leaf area and total dry mass in SuzT. Despite higher photosynthetic rate, SuzS exhibited reduced dry biomass accumulation, implying less efficient carbon use. SuzT revealed a higher level of calcium that supports cell structure and homeostasis and indicates higher capacity to manage specific resources and survival under water deficit. SuzT suffered reduction in some free amino acids; however, there was no significant variation for total amino acid content. The principal component and cluster analyses indicated that SuzMT and SuzTP genotypes behave similarly to SuzT under water deficit, while SuzS clustered in isolation. Our results support that there are common trends in water deficit responses for contrasting eucalypt genotypes. The existence of other strategies coping with water deficit resistance is not discarded and should be further evaluated.
