R. Save et al., SEASONAL PATTERNS OF WATER RELATIONSHIPS, PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS ANDMORPHOLOGY OF ACTINIDIA-DELICIOSA PLANTS OF THE HAYWARD AND TOMURI CULTIVARS, Agronomie, 14(2), 1994, pp. 121-126
Plant water relationships, photosynthetic pigments, osmotic solutes an
d several morphological parameters were measured on leaves of 6-yr-old
pistillate (Hayward) and 6-yr-old staminate (Tomuri) cultivars of kiw
ifruit grown under Mediterranean climate conditions, in order to evalu
ate physiological differences between them, and whether a good discrim
inatory parameter can be obtained between rooted cuttings. The stamina
te cultivar had higher leaf turgor and losses turgor at lower leaf-wat
er potential than the pistillate cultivar. This was related to the low
er osmotic potential at full turgor in Tomuri compared with Hayward, t
ogether with the elastic properties of leaf tissue. Seasonal patterns
of water potential components, cuticular water loss, proline, soluble
sugars, photosynthetic pigments, cutin, turgid weight/dry weight ratio
and specific leaf weight were all similar in both cultivars, whereas
the hemicellulose/cellulose ratio differed. Thus, leaf-tissue elastici
ty is important in determining the drought-resistance strategy of both
cultivars, and the chemical composition of the cell walls, which is s
trongly related to tissue elasticity, could provide a good discriminat
ory parameter.