Some special features of the water regime and the photosynthetic apparatus activity in Feijoa sellowiana (O. Berg) O. Berg plants under the water stress

Abstract

When assessing the drought tolerance of Feijoa sellowiana cultivars and forms, the total water content in leaf tissues and their waterretaining and regenerative capacity were determined, and the parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence induction were measured at different water content in leaves. Current-year leaves were characterized by a higher sensitivity to drought. According to the complex of water regime parameters and characteristics of the chlorophyll fluorescence induction (CFI), it was found that the cultivar Aromatnaya Fantazia and the form 3/1 are characterized by a relatively high drought tolerance. It has been demonstrated that the common method for assessing plant tolerance by the index of their water-retaining forces, in relation to Feijoa sellowiana genotypes, does not allow determining the critical level of water deficit. It has been found that in the cultivars and forms with low water stress tolerance, with the water loss of 20-25% from the leaf tissues complete hydration, irreversible irregularities in the PS II structures occurred. The most sensitive to the lack of water in the leaves were such parameters as variable fluorescence, rate constants of the photochemical and non-photochemical deactivation of the excitation, as well as the processes of Qa reduction in the reaction centers of PS II.