Ultrasonic spectroscopy allows a rapid determination of the relative water content at the turgor loss point: a comparison with pressure-volume curves in 13 woody species.
The turgor loss point (TLP), which is considered a threshold for many physiological processes, may be useful in plant-breeding programs or for the selection of reforestation species. Obtaining TLP through the standard pressure-volume (p-v) curve method in a large set of species is highly time-consuming and somewhat subjective. To solve this problem, we present an objective and a less time-consuming technique based on the leaf resonance able to calculate the relative water content (RWC) at TLP (RWCTLP). This method uses air-coupled broadband ultrasonic spectroscopy to obtain the sigmoidal relation between RWC and the standardized resonant frequency (f/fo). For the 13 species measured, the inflexion point of the RWC-f/fo relationship ( ) was not statistically different from the value of RWC at the TLP obtained with the p-v curves (RWCTLP p-v).
Unidad de Recursos Forestales, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria, Gobierno de Aragón, 50059, Zaragoza, Spain.
Domingo
D
Sancho-Knapik
José Javier
JJ
Peguero-Pina
María Dolores
MD
Fariñas
Tomás Gómez
TG
Alvarez-Arenas
Eustaquio
E
Gil-Pelegrín
D055864:Droughts; D016014:Linear Models; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000378:metabolism*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D014197:Trees; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*; D014934:Wood / Q000378:metabolism
D014867:Water
drought; relative water content; turgor loss point; ultrasonic spectroscopy