Crop Science Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education
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Published in Crop Sci 11:471-474 (1971)
© 1971 Crop Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Anatomical Changes in the Shoot Tip of Wheat After Exposure to Drought Stress1

Esther J. Ridley and Glenn W. Todd2

Shoot apices of 3 to 4-week-old winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings of cultivars ‘Ponca’ and ‘Cheyenne’ were examined and described anatomically before and after exposure to drought stress. Drought caused the following changes: thickened cell walls in apical and subapical regions, abundant peri- and anti-clinal divisions with granulation and absence of protoplasts of some cells in the sub-apical region, plasmolysis of some cells, lack of distinct zonation, and increased lateral bud formation. Apex length in both cultivars was comparable in controls but length more than doubled in Cheyenne with drought stress while drought-susceptible Ponca changed very little. The distance between the apex tip and the first differentiated procambial cells was greatest in control Cheyenne and decreased with drought to less than onehalf in plants droughted 8 days. This distance to procambium decreased in Ponca with slight drought, then increased with additional drought stress. It is suggested that several of these changes may be responsible for the eventual death of the plant from severe drought.

Key Words: Water • Apical meristem

1 Contribution of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. The senior author was a National Science Foundation Faculty Fellow, and the work is part of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D, degree.

2 Professor, Biology Dept., Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland, and Professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74074, respectively.

Received for publication November 5, 1970.




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