Effect of humidity and wind on stomata of cassava (Manihot esculenta – Euphorbiaceae)

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Next Generation Cassava Breeding

 

Effect of humidity and wind on leaf conductance of field grown cassava

by El-Sharkawy M. A. (1990)

Mabrouk A. El-Sharkawy

in Rev. Bras. Fisiol.Vegetal 2(2): 17-22 –

Author’s submission

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Abstract:

Stomata of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) were previously reported to close in large leaf-air vapor pressure difference (VPD) under laboratory controlled studies. Field measurements made with young cassava plants grown in wet soil in the north-east of Colombia demonstrated that leaf conductance decreased rapidly (from 6.7 mm per second at 1.4 kPa in late morning to 1.8 mm per second at 2.5 kPa at midday) with increasing VPD.

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Transpiration was also found to decrease over the same range of VPD without change in bulk leaf wáter potential. Leaves exposed to blowing wind closed their stomata at midday (leaf conductance was 0.64 mm per second for upwind leaves as compared with 3.34 mm per second for downwind leaves).

These responses were discussed in light of possible mechanisms of direct stomatal reaction to changes in atmospheric humidity and its implications for cassava productivity in the tropics.