TY - JOUR
T1 - Seedling desiccation tolerance of Leymus racemosus (Poaceae) (wild rye), a perennial sand-dune grass inhabiting the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang, China
AU - Huang, Zhenying
AU - Gutterman, Yitzchak
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Mrs Frieda Gilmour for her help in editing this paper and Mr Shlomo Feingold for technical support. This study was supported financially by the Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-SW-117) and the National Natural Science Foundation (30000021) of P. R. China. Z.H. thanks the Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation (BCSC) of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, for the post-doctoral fellowship awarded to him for the year 2003.
PY - 2004/6/1
Y1 - 2004/6/1
N2 - Leymus racemosus, the mammoth wild rye, is a rhizomatous perennial grass, mainly distributed in the moving or semi-stabilized sand dunes in deserts of the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China. The revival ability of the young seedling after periods of desiccation can be influenced by several factors: (1) the stage of seedling development - the later the stage at dehydration, the longer the root length and the lower is the percentage of seedlings that survive; (2) the length of the period of desiccation - the longer the period that the seedlings are under desiccation, the lower is the percentage of seedlings that survive; (3) endosperm size - the smaller the proportion of endosperm that remains in the caryopses, the lower is the percentage of seedlings that revive, determined by (a) the stage of seedling development, and (b) the proportion of the endosperm that is removed by cutting; and (4) caryopsis size - the larger the polymorphic caryopses, the higher is the percentage of young seedlings that revive from periods of desiccation. The physiological and ecological implications of L. racemosus seedling desiccation tolerance are that under extreme desert and unpredictable environmental conditions, the chances of seedling establishment are increased.
AB - Leymus racemosus, the mammoth wild rye, is a rhizomatous perennial grass, mainly distributed in the moving or semi-stabilized sand dunes in deserts of the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China. The revival ability of the young seedling after periods of desiccation can be influenced by several factors: (1) the stage of seedling development - the later the stage at dehydration, the longer the root length and the lower is the percentage of seedlings that survive; (2) the length of the period of desiccation - the longer the period that the seedlings are under desiccation, the lower is the percentage of seedlings that survive; (3) endosperm size - the smaller the proportion of endosperm that remains in the caryopses, the lower is the percentage of seedlings that revive, determined by (a) the stage of seedling development, and (b) the proportion of the endosperm that is removed by cutting; and (4) caryopsis size - the larger the polymorphic caryopses, the higher is the percentage of young seedlings that revive from periods of desiccation. The physiological and ecological implications of L. racemosus seedling desiccation tolerance are that under extreme desert and unpredictable environmental conditions, the chances of seedling establishment are increased.
KW - Caryopsis size
KW - Desiccation tolerance
KW - Endosperm; extreme desert
KW - Leymus racemosus
KW - Sand dune
KW - Seedling developmental stage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=3042769705&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1079/SSR2004172
DO - 10.1079/SSR2004172
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:3042769705
VL - 14
SP - 233
EP - 239
JO - Seed Science Research
JF - Seed Science Research
SN - 0960-2585
IS - 2
ER -