Ver artículo

Water relations and photosynthetic characteristics of plants of Lycium nodosum grown under increasing water deficit (WD), saline spray (SS) or saline irrigation (SI) were studied. Plants of this perennial, deciduous shrub growing in the coastal thorn scrubs of Venezuela show succulent leaves which persist for approx. 1 month after the beginning of the dry season; leaf succulence is higher in populations closer to the sea. These observations suggested that L. nodosum is tolerant both to WD and salinity. In the glasshouse, WD caused a marked decrease in the xylem water potential (ψ), leaf osmotic potential (ψ_s) and relative water content (RWC) after 21 d; additionally, photosynthetic rate (A), carboxylation efficiency (CE) and stomatal conductance (g_s) decreased by more than 90 %. In contrast, in plants treated for 21 d with a foliar spray with 35 ‰ NaCl or irrigation with a 10 % NaCl solution, ψ and RWC …