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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2013, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (2): 243-249.

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Humulus scandens gender differences in response to water stress in the vegetative growth stage

LIU Jin-ping, DUAN Jing   

  1. College of Life Sciences of China West Normal University and Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education on Southwest China Wildlife Resoureces Conservation, Nanchong 637002, China
  • Received:2012-02-17 Online:2013-02-25 Published:2013-04-20

Abstract: Humulus scandens in the vegetative growth stage was treated with the drought stress of four water gradients. When the sex could be identified, some indicators of single male and female plants, including the quantitative traits of components (root, stem, leaves), fresh weight, hay weight, and the proportion of component to total biomass, were measured and analyzed. H. scandens responded to water stress by significantly shortening the duration of vegetative growth. Male plants were more sensitive to the lack of water than female plants. Response to water stress was in the order roots, leaves, and stems. Root moisture content was reduced to meet the needs of stems and leaves to water. Meanwhile, the plant reduced the consumption of water by reducing the number of leaves and branches and by narrowing leaf area and stem length. These indicators (including total leaf area, branch, length and volume of stem, length and volume of root) were lower on male than on female plants. Water had a highly significant effect on fresh weight and hay weight of each component. Sex significantly affected only the biomass of roots. The total biomass of male plants was significant lower than that of female plants, but there was no difference between them in the distribution of each component of the biomass. H. scandens responded to water stress by reducing investment in vegetative growth and quickly switching into reproductive growth, which laid the foundation for reproduction and expansion of the population.

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