%0 Research article
%T Comparison of growth and physiological responses to severe drought between two altitudinal Hippophae rhamnoides populations
%A Yang, Yongqing
%A Yao, Yinan
%A Zhang, Xuejiang
%D 2010
%J Silva Fennica
%V 44
%N 4
%R doi:10.14214/sf.130
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/130
%X Growth and physiological differences in response to drought were  compared between two sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) populations  inhabited in the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China. The  experimental design included two water regimes (100% and 25% of field  capacity) and two populations from the low and high altitude zone. Our  experiments were conducted in a naturally lit greenhouse under  semi-controlled environmental conditions for a whole growing season in a  dry valley (1800 m above the sea level). We found that drought  tolerance is highly related to the plant antioxidant capacity and water  use efficiency as well as leaf nutrient status in H. rhamnoides. The  highland population (HP) experienced a greater inhibition in plant  growth and leaf enlargement, lower leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content,  lower root nodule biomass and root mass/foliage area ratio, and higher  leaf water content loss paralleling with higher enhancement of abscisic  acid level in response to drought, as compared with lowland population  (LP). Additionally, reduction of leaf lignin content in HP further  reduced its drought tolerance. On the contrary, LP showed effective  adaptation strategies such as improvement of water economy and  maintaining high ascorbic acid content. Therefore, we conclude that LP  was more tolerant to drought than HP, and could be selected for  reforestation in the dry valleys of upper Minjiang River regions in  China.