Abstract
Leaf cuticular waxes are known to influence both biotic and abiotic stress tolerances of plants. The objective of this work was to characterize the wax phenotypic diversity present in a population of 1849 switchgrass plants. We identified 92 visually distinct variant plants that possessed altered leaf glaucousness relative to the common standard type (ST), which exhibited a bluish-white (glaucous) leaf color. The variants could be grouped into three classes: 1) non-glaucous types (NG) that possessed a shiny green leaf surface, 2) reduced glaucous types (RG) that appeared less glaucous than ST, and 3) highly glaucous types (HG) that exhibited more intense bluish-white color than ST. Analyses of total cuticular wax content averaged over each of three NG (mean 304.79 ± 15.16 μg/dm2), RG (mean 533.33 ± 21.62 μg/dm2) and HG types (mean 1228.23 ± 45.74 μg/dm2) showed significant differences (P < 0.001) from three selected STs (mean 810.92 ± 30.57 μg/dm2). Analysis of wax composition among these selected types revealed that the C33 β-diketones were the most abundant wax compounds in all but NG types. Field emission scanning electron microscopy showed that abaxial leaf surfaces exhibited predominantly rod-shaped crystals, and adaxial surfaces exhibited predominantly plate-shaped wax crystals on all lines, except for NG that lacked wax crystals on the abaxial leaf surface. As a target for crop improvement, this study reveals that a large amount of variation for cuticle waxes exists within this switchgrass germplasm.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 310-316 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Industrial Crops and Products |
Volume | 117 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2018 |
Keywords
- Cuticular wax variants
- Leaf
- Panicum virgatum
- Poaceae
- Switchgrass
- β-Diketones
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agronomy and Crop Science