Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:51:25.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Evaluation of polyethylene glycol test of measuring cell membrane stability as a drought tolerance test in wheat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

G. S. Premachandra
Affiliation:
Faculty of Applied Biological Science, Hiroshima University, Fulcuyama, Japan 720
T. Shimada
Affiliation:
Department of Grassland Science, Obihiro University, Obihiro, Japan 080

Summary

Effectiveness of the polyethylene glycol (PEG) test for measuring cell membrane stability (CMS) to select drought-tolerant genotypes in wheat was investigated. PEG test was compared with two other tests. Genetic variability of CMS was also investigated.

Drought was induced artificially in pot-grown plants and in excised leaves, and percentage injury in leaf tissues by drought stress as measured by CMS was compared with that by PEG test. Percentage injury in leaf tissues of pot-grown plants was not correlated significantly with that by PEG test. However, percentage injury in excised leaves was well correlated with that in PEG test. The results suggest that the PEG test has merit in measuring drought tolerance in wheat. Frequency distribution of CMS in winter wheat lines was closely related to the characteristic pattern of quantitative inheritance and therefore CMS of wheat seems to be controlled by polygene action.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bewley, J. D. (1979). Physiological aspects of desiccation tolerance. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 30, 195228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, A. & Ebercon, A., (1976). Genotypic responses in sorghum to drought stress III. Free proline accumulation and drought resistance. Crop Science 16, 428431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, A. & Ebercon, A. (1981). Cell membrane stability as a measure of drought and heat tolerance in wheat. Crop Science 21, 43–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krishnamani, M. R. S., Yopp, J. H. & Myers, O. (1984). Leaf solute leakage as a drought tolerance indicator in soybean. Phyton 44, 4349.Google Scholar
Martineau, J. R., Specht, J. E., Williams, J. H. & Sullivan, C. Y. (1979). Temperature tolerance in soybean. I. Evaluation of a technique for assessing cellular membrane thermostability. Crop Science 19, 7578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Premachandra, G. S. & Shimada, T. (1987). The measurement of cell membrane stability using polyethylene glycol as a drought tolerance test in wheat. Japan Journal of Crop Science 56, 9298.Google Scholar
Sullivan, C. Y. (1971). Technique for measuring plant drought stress. In Drought Injury and Resistance in Crops (ed. Larson, K. L. and Eastin, J. D.), pp. 118. Madison, Wisconsin: Crop Science Society of America.Google Scholar
Sullivan, C. Y. (1972). Mechanisms of heat and drought resistance in grain sorghum and methods of measurement. In Sorghum in the Seventies (ed. Rao, N. G. P. and House, L. R.), pp. 247264. New Delhi, India: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co.Google Scholar