Hydroscapes: A Useful Metric for Distinguishing Iso-/Anisohydric Behavior in Almond Cultivars

Abstract

As a consequence of climate change, water scarcity has increased the use of the iso-/anisohydric concept with the aim of identifying anisohydric or drought-tolerant genotypes. Recently, Meinzer and colleagues developed a metric for discriminating between iso- and anisohydric behavior called the hydroscape, which describes a range in which stomata control leaf water potential (Ψ) with decreasing water availability, and it is linked to several water-regulation and drought-tolerance traits. Thus, our objective was to test the usefulness of the hydroscape in discriminating between iso- and anisohydric Prunus dulcis cultivars, a species that is widely cultivated in Mediterranean central Chile due to its ability to withstand water stress. Through a pot desiccation experiment, we determined that the hydroscape was able to discriminate between two contrasting Prunus cultivars; the more anisohydric cultivar had a hydroscape 4.5 times greater than that of the other cultivar, and the hydroscape correlated with other metrics of plant water-use strategies, such as the maximum range of daily Ψ variation and the Ψ at stomatal closure. Moreover, the photosynthesis rates were also differently affected between cultivars. The more isohydric cultivar, which had a smaller hydroscape, displayed a steeper photosynthesis reduction at progressively lower midday Ψ. This methodology could be further used to identify drought-tolerant anisohydric Prunus cultivars.