A CRITICAL REEXAMINATION OF PRESSURE-VOLUME ANALYSIS OF CONIFER SHOOTS - COMPARISON OF 3 PROCEDURES FOR GENERATING PV CURVES ON SHOOTS OF PINUS-RESINOSA AIT SEEDLINGS
Wc. Parker et Sj. Colombo, A CRITICAL REEXAMINATION OF PRESSURE-VOLUME ANALYSIS OF CONIFER SHOOTS - COMPARISON OF 3 PROCEDURES FOR GENERATING PV CURVES ON SHOOTS OF PINUS-RESINOSA AIT SEEDLINGS, Journal of Experimental Botany, 46(292), 1995, pp. 1701-1709
Prediction of water relations attributes for red pine (Pinus resinosa
Ait.) derived from pressure-volume (PV) curves varied depending on whi
ch of three methods was used. The sap expression method entailed the e
nclosure of a shoot in a pressure chamber and expression of xylem sap
by applying a constant selected pressure until sap flow ceased, at whi
ch point xylem water potential and shoot weight were measured. A sap e
xpression PV curve was formed by aggregating pairs of water potential-
weight measurements, each pair supplied by one of 25 shoots. The repea
t pressurization method involved repeatedly measuring xylem water pote
ntial and shoot weight on a single shoot drying on a laboratory bench,
Repeat pressurization PV curves were constructed from data provided b
y a single shoot, The composite method utilized single measurements of
xylem water potential and shoot weight on 25-30 different shoots rang
ing in relative water content from about 1.0 to 0.5 achieved by bench
drying. Composite PV curves were constructed from aggregate data suppl
ied by a population of shoots, There was close agreement in all PV att
ributes generated using repeat pressurization and sap expression metho
ds, In contrast, with the composite PV method, there was a fundamental
difference in the slope of the linear region of the PV curves, causin
g osmotic potentials at full turgor and turgor loss to be more negativ
e, and relative water content at turgor loss to be lower and symplast
fraction to be higher, Comparison of composite and repeat pressurizati
on PV curves over the same ranges in water content did not eliminate d
ifferences in derived water relations attributes. Differences in water
potential isotherms related to the PV procedures used suggest that pr
olonged or repeated exposure to gas at high pressure may introduce err
ors in the estimation of water relations attributes.