Sensitivity of white clover to UV-B radiation depends on water availability, plant productivity and duration of stress

Nine populations of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) were grown for 12 weeks with supplemental application of 13.3 kJ m−2 d−1 ultraviolet‐B (UV‐B) radiation under controlled environmental conditions. Drought was applied during the last four weeks of the experiment. Under well‐watered conditions, U...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global change biology Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 473 - 477
Main Authors:	HOFMANN, RAINER W., CAMPBELL, BRUCE D., FOUNTAIN, DAVID F.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-03-2003
Subjects:	drought interaction intraspecific Trifolium repens L ultraviolet-B
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Nine populations of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) were grown for 12 weeks with supplemental application of 13.3 kJ m−2 d−1 ultraviolet‐B (UV‐B) radiation under controlled environmental conditions. Drought was applied during the last four weeks of the experiment. Under well‐watered conditions, UV‐B decreased white clover growth on average by 20%. Cultivars bred for agricultural performance were sensitive to UV‐B, while slow‐growing ecotypes were UV‐B‐tolerant. After four weeks of water stress, there were no significant population differences in UV‐B responsiveness. UV‐B sensitivity decreased with increasing exposure to drought and with longer duration of UV‐B irradiation, suggesting that the direction and extent of the UV‐B 3× drought interaction depends on the duration of stress. The population comparisons indicate that low constitutive growth rate and adaptation to other forms of stress may be related to UV‐B tolerance under well‐watered conditions, but not during extended periods of drought.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-MWWZJJPN-9 istex:5F31A9B58BD328090FBC5A7CAE94227DBF6631D8 ArticleID:GCB0578 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	1354-1013 1365-2486
DOI:	10.1046/j.1365-2486.2003.00578.x