Drought memory and resilience in sugarcane

• Grant number: 18/21194-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: June 18, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Vasconcelos Ribeiro
• Grantee: Karine Alessandra Vitti
• Host Institution: Instituto Agronômico (IAC). Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sugarcane is largely grown in rainfed areas, where water deficit is a frequent environmental challenge. In previous experiments and independent of water availability, we found higher growth of plants originating from mother plants (plants in which propagation material was obtained) subjected to drought, an evidence of transgenerational memory. If this mechanism of drought resistance is proved, plant performance in field conditions could be improved by choosing propagation material or even by new techniques of producing pre-sprouted plants under nursery. Thus, the objectives of this study are (i) to test the hypothesis that plants obtained from mother plants cultivated under water deficit are more resistant to drought and have higher growth than those obtained from mother plants grown without water restriction and (ii) to evaluate the persistence of memory and the resilience to drought of daughter plants, considering the leaf gas exchange. Sugarcane plants (mother plants) will be submitted to three cycles of water deficit by water withholding (MDH) or grown with daily irrigation (MI) until the maturation phase. Then, plants (daughter ones) will be obtained from MDH and MI plants and submitted to one or two cycles of water deficit at the tillering phenological stage. As references, plants obtained from MDH and MI plants will remain well irrigated. In addition to leaf gas exchange measurements, photochemical activity, chlorophyll content, leaf water potential, relative water content, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation and the antioxidant metabolism, biomass production and leaf area will be evaluated. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RIBEIRO, V, RAFAEL; VITTI, KARINE A.; MARCOS, FERNANDA C. C.; SOUZA, GUSTAVO M.; PISSOLATO, MARIA D.; ALMEIDA, LUIZ FERNANDO R.; MACHADO, EDUARDO C.. Proposal of an index of stability for evaluating plant drought memory: A case study in sugarcane. Journal of Plant Physiology, v. 260, MAY 2021. (19/27106-0, 18/21194-1, 19/06161-2, 19/08047-2)