Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2023, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (4): 519-534.DOI: 10.11983/CBB22086

• RESEARCH PAPER • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comparative Study on the Drought Resistance of Young Seedling from Populus laurifolia × P. simonii F1 Progeny

Lei Zhang1, Pengfei Jiang1, Yiming Wang2, Ting Lan3, Yanjing Liu1, Qingyin Zeng1()   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    2. College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
    3. School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
  • Received:2022-04-23 Accepted:2022-06-16 Online:2023-07-01 Published:2022-07-17
  • Contact: *E-mail: qingyin.zeng@caf.ac.cn

Abstract: The development of drought-resistant tree varieties is of great significance for maintaining forest productivity in arid and semi-arid regions of China and addressing the challenges of global climate change. Populus laurifolia is distributed in the Irtysh River Basin in Xinjiang, China, has excellent characteristics such as fast growth and cold resistance. P. simonii has the characteristics of drought resistance and barren resistance, and is widely planted in northern China. In this study, the drought resistance characteristics of P. laurifolia × P. simonii F1 progeny were comprehensively analyzed and evaluated. We investigated seven growth parameters such as high growth and relative leaf water content, six photosynthetic parameters such as net photosynthetic rate and intercellular CO2 concentration, and five biochemical characteristics such as SOD activity and MDA content. Based on the drought resistance coefficient and membership function analysis of 18 trait parameters, the parent and 23 F1 progeny were divided into three drought resistance types: high, medium and low. Compared to other two drought resistance types seedlings, the highly drought-resistant F1 progeny seedlings had larger leaf thickness, upper and lower epidermis thickness, palisade tissue thickness, and leaf tissue compactness. For highly drought-resistant F1 progeny seedlings, the expression levels of key drought resistance genes under drought stress were significantly higher than other two drought resistance types. This study provides theoretical guidance and material basis for breeding drought-resistant poplar.

Key words: poplar, hybrid, seedling stage, drought resistance, evaluation