Plant Production Science

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Reduction in Leaf Water Potential and Hydraulic

Conductance of Young Rice Plants (Oryza Sativa L.)
Grown in Wet Compacted Soils

Tohru Kobata & Murshidul Hoque

To cite this article: Tohru Kobata & Murshidul Hoque (1999) Reduction in Leaf Water Potential
and Hydraulic Conductance of Young Rice Plants (Oryza Sativa L.) Grown in Wet Compacted
Soils, Plant Production Science, 2:1, 14-20, DOI: 10.1626/pps.2.14

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1626/pps.2.14

© 1999 Crop Science Society of Japan

Published online: 03 Dec 2015.

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 Plant Prod. Sci. 2 (1) : 14-20 (I 999)

Crop Ecology
Reduction in Leaf Water Potential and Hydraulic Conductance
of Young Rice Plants (Oryza Sativa L.) Grown
in Wet Compacted Soils
Tohru Kobata and Md. Murshidul Hoque

(Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University,

7060 Nishikawatu-cho, Matsue 690-0823, Japan)
Accepted 30 September 1998

Abstract: Lower leaf water potential (1/11) was observed in young rice plants grown in wet and highly compacted soil.
Our objectives were to establish why the reductions of 1/11 occurred and to find the effect of plant hydraulic
conductance on 1/11' One seedling of a lowland cultivar Nipponbare and an upland cultivar Senshou were grown in
plastic pipes with a diameter of 5.4 cm and a height of 45 cm filled with a soil mixture. Soil bulk density (SED) was
set at four levels and wet soil conditions were maintained. In a growth chamber 1/11' transpiration rate per unit leaf area
(T L), leaf area and root length were measured at 35 days after sowing. In both cUltivars, plant hydraulic conductance
(C p = - T L/ 1/11) decreased as SED increased and there was a positive correlation between C p and root length per unit
leaf area. The greater decreases in root length than in leaf area, in the soil with a high bulk density, were suggested
to reduce Cp , thus resulting in lower 1/11' In both cultivars, root hydraulic conductance per unit root length (C R ),
estimated using a pressure-flux method, increased with increase in SED. The increases in CR were accompanied by
the increases in T L per unit root length at a high SBD. We suggest that the suppression of root length in rice by highly
compacted soil causes lower C p which in turn reduces 1/11' even if the soil is wet. C R , water absorption rate per unit
root length and the diameter of the primary roots, clearly increased under highly compacted soil conditions, but this
might not be able to compensate for the greater reduction in root length than in leaf area, and so may not permit Cp
and 1/11 to be maintained.

Key words: Hydraulic conductance, Leaf water potential, Rice, Root length, Soil bulk density, Transpiration rate,
Wet soil conditions.

Lower leaf water potential (1/1'1) is observed under
rhizosphere and aerial environmental stresses, such as
soil desiccation (Turner, 1997; Kramer and Boyer,
1995), soil salinity (Munns and Schachtman, 1992),
toxicity by soil reduction under submerged soil (Hiras-
awa et al., 1992b), higher evaporative demand of atmo-
sphere (Kramer and Boyer, 1995 ; Kobata et al., 1993a),
and strong winds of low temperature (Bolger et al.,
1992 ; Fukuda et al., 1993) or of desiccated high temper-
ature air (Muramatu, 1982). The reduction of 1/1'1'
caused particularly by higher evaporative demand under
moist soil conditions, seems to directly affect physiologi-
cal processes such as stomatal conductance and
photosynthetic rate, and consequently plant productivity
(Boyer et al., 1980; Kobata et al., 1993b), although
under desiccated soil conditions the physiological sup-
pression may not be caused by the change of 1/1'1 but
predominantly by root dehydration (Davies and Zhang,
1991) .
Soil hardness is known to be an important factor in
Corresponding author: T. Kobata (kobata@life.shimane-u.ac.jp, fax + 81-852-32-6499) .
Abbreviations: fl' leaf water potential; Cp , plant hydraulic conductance; CR, root hydraulic conductance; SBD, soil bulk density; T L,
transpiration rate per unit leaf area.
suppression of growth, such as reductions of leaf expan-
sion rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and
biomass production in many plant species (Masle and
Passioura, 1987 ; Smucker and Allmaras, 1992 ; Passiour-
a and Stirzaker, 1992). In rice plants, a reduction of 1/1'1
was observed in the soil with high bulk density even if
the soil surrounding the roots was wetted (Hoque and
Kobata, 1998), while in other plants, such as wheat, no
reduction of 1/1'1 in wet compacted soil was observed
(Masle and Passioura, 1987). Reduction of 1/1'1 may
cause the suppression of growth in rice (Hoque and
Kobata, 1998), but the reason for the reduction of 1/1'1 is
not known.
Plant hydraulic conductance is one of the most impor-
tant factors affecting 1/1'1' because 1/1'1 is a function of the
transpiration rate if the hydraulic conductance is a
constant (Gardner, 1968; Boyer, 1985). Under wet soil
conditions hydraulic conductance is a dominant factor in
determining 1/1'1' because the effect of soil water potential
can be almost ignored.

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 Kobata and Hoque--Low Leaf Water Potential in Rice under Wet and Compacted Soils
Our objective was to establish why 1/1'1 of rice decreases
under wet compacted soil conditions, and to show the
effect of plant hydraulic conductance on the reduction of
1/;'1 by using two cultivars which differ in their
hydrological adaptation.
Material and methods
1. Plant materials
The lowland improved nce cultivar Nipponbare (a
drought sensitive cultivar) (Kobata et al., 1996) and the
upland local cultivar Senshou (a drought resistant
cultivar ) were used for the experiment. Polyvinyl chlo-
ride pipes with an inside diameter of 5.4 cm and a height
of 45 cm were filled with a mixture of top soil from
Andosols and granitic parent material of Cambisols,
which were sieved using a 0.5 cm mesh, in a volume ratio
of 1 : 1 on 23 August 1996; 0.11 g N as ammonium
sulfate, 0.09 g P as superphoshate of lime and 0.09 g K
as potassium chloride were mixed with the soil in each
pipe. The bottom of the pipe was closed with a plastic
sheet and the outside wall of the pipe was covered by a
reflection sheet (Dry Sheet, Daiken Kogyo Co. Tokyo,
Japan) to protect against heat gain from radiation. Soil
at a series of four soil bulk densities (SBD, 1.30, 1.35, 1.
40 and 1.50 dry soil g cm- 3 ) were set up by compacting
air dried soil with a steel stick after a small amount of
water had been added. The actual SBD for the dry soil
was calculated from soil volume and soil weight dried at
lOSOC. Two seeds were sown and one plant was left to
grow after establishment in each pipe and the SBD for
each cultivar was replicated three times. Tillers appeared
were cut off weekly and only a main culm was grown.
2. Measurements of leaf water potential and
hydraulic conductance
All plants were grown in a non-temperature-controlled
glasshouse for 25 days and transferred to a growth
chamber (TGE-6H-4, Tabai Espec Co. Osaka, Japan) in
which room temperature was kept at 25 ± 1°C, relative
humidity at 75 ± 7%, light period at 12 h, and light
intensity at 300 ,!Lmol m- 2 S-1 at plant level. The amount
of water lost over the previous 24 h was added every
morning to maintain water content near the maximum
water holding capacity of the soil (volumetric soil water
content differed between 0.29 g cm- 3 at the lowest SBD
and 0.32 g cm- 3 at the highest SBD). Wet soil conditions
were maintained during the measurements, because
transpiration loss from a pot over 24 h was less than 1%
of the water contained in the pot: the loss caused a
reduction of only 0.005 MPa in soil water potential at the
most. After the plants had adapted to the environment of
the growth chamber for 10 days, 1/1'1 of the fully expand-
ed top leaves of three plants at each SBD under light
conditions was measured using a pressure chamber (Soil
Moisture Console, Model 305, Soil-Moisture Equipment
Co. CA., USA) (Kobata and Takami, 1984). The surface
of the soil in the pots was covered with 1 cm of plastic
15
beads to prevent soil evaporation. The transpiration rate
for each plant over 24 h was monitored using an electric
balance. Transpiration rate scarcely changed during the
light period and was very small during the dark period
(< 10% of the transpiration over 24 h), because evapor-
ative demand is determined mainly by radiation, humid-
ity and wind speed (Van Bavel, 1966; Kobata et al.,
1993a) and these are constant in a growth cabinet. The
transpiration rate thus was indicated by the rate per h
during the 12 h of daylight.
Plant hydraulic conductance (C p ) was calculated
from
Cp =T L/ (1/I'soI1- 1/1'1) (1)
where T L is the transpiration rate per unit leaf area
(g cm- 2 h- 1), and 1/I'soil is soil water potential, which is
estimated to be approximately as zero under wet soil
conditions (Gardner, 1968). We ignored the effects of
1/I'so11 on the estimation of C p , because bulk 1/I'so11 under
the irrigated conditions, which was estimated from these
soil water characteristic curves was at most within the
range between 0.05 and 0.06 MPa at all SBD. Thus eq.
(1) is rewritten as
C p =-T L/1/I'1 (2).
A direct relationship between T Land 1/1'1 was suggested,
because in our experiment TL was higher than 0.2
g cm- 2 h- 1 at all SBD (Hirasawa and Ishihara, 1991).
After measurement of 1/1'1' the plant shoots were cut
near the ground surface and the pot was set intact into
the stainless steel cylinder of a pressure chamber which
was 50 cm high. The cut surface of the shoot was outside
the cylinder and the base was closed with a silicon
rubber stopper. The roots were pressurized with nitrogen
gas at the rates of 0.3 and 0.6 MPa . After the pressure
of 0.3 MPa was held for 30 sec to equilibrate the flow
from the root, the sap exuded from the cut shoot surface
was gathered using a cotton pad for one minute, the
cotton was immediately placed in a plastic vial and
weighed (Kobata and Kobayashi, 1993). Next, the
pressure of 0.6 MPa was applied and the sap was
gathered in the same manner. Flux from the root (F, mg
min- 1 plane 1 ) was calculated from the differences in
weight of the cotton pad before and after pressurization.
Root hydraulic conductance (C R ) was estimated from
CR=F/P.RL (3)
where P is an applied pressure to the root system (MPa)
(Turner, 1988; Kobata and Kobayashi, 1994) and RL is
root length (cm plane 1) . The pressure under the two
rates of P (0.3 and 0.6 MPa) were used to calculate CR'
There was a linear relationship between F and P when
the P under -1 MPa was applied to rice roots grown in
moist soils (Kobata and Kobayashi, 1994). Sap could be
gathered by the pressures > 0.3 MPa, because the appar-
ent root bulk water potential (- 0.2 MPa or less), which
was measured just after removing the shoot from a plant,
was lower than the pressure applied. Generally root
water potential may be much higher than leaf water
potential, since there is a negative gradient in water
NII-Electronic Library Service
 16 Plant Production Science Vol. 2, 1999

potential along the plant organs (Kramer and Boyer, SBD pots after measurements of 1/1'1 and T L was
1995) . maintained at around 0.3 g cm- 3 (Fig. 1). When bulk
Leaf area for cut shoots was measured using an soil impedance was calculated from SBD and volumetric
automatic leaf area meter. After the measurements of C R , soil water content (Hoque and Kobata, 1998), it was
roots were washed and stained with 0.25% Coomassie between 0.17 to 0.70 kg cm-s.
Brilliant Blue R, and RL was measured with a laser area Shoot and root dry matter of both cultivars decreased
meter (CI-203, CID, Inc., Cambridge, England). Diam- as SBD increased (Fig. 2). The root-to-shoot ratio, which is
eter of primary root at the center position of the five thick indicated by the slope of a line connecting the origin and
roots in each plant was measured with a slide caliper. each symbol, decreased with the increments of SBD
Shoots and roots were oven dried at 80°C for 48 hand (only the lines for the lowest and the highest SBD rates
then weighed. are indicated in Fig. 2) : the root-to-shoot ratio decreased
from 0.38 to 0.17 in Nipponbare and from 0.68 to 0.44 in
Results
Senshou. Thus the reduction of the ratio in Nipponbare
Volumetric soil water content for both cultivars in all was greater than in Senshou. Both leaf area and total
.;.0
root length were suppressed by higher SBD, although
1=1
Ql
.-.. suppression was significantly less in Senshou than in
.;.0
1=1 "" 0.8
0
u SU
!-< bll
<il
.;.0
~
~ 0.6
III
~ U
~,......, s:l
0"" ~
0.4
~
"'d
S Ql
~
.....
!-<
U
bll
.S 0.2 80
~'-'
s .....
.....
0
.E0 'ClJ.

> 0 40
1.3 1.4 1.5
Soil bulk density (g em-S)
o L - -_ _...L..-_ _---I

Fig. 1. Volumetric soil water content (VSWC) (e: soils for

Nipponbare and A : Senshou) and bulk soil impedance (BS!) 1600
(06) of pot soil at each soil bulk density (SBD). ~,-,
The lines give the fitted linear regressions ; bD 'L 1200
VSWC=3.l8SBD-4.02 (r 2 =0.962, P<O.OOl) ~ ~
Q) cd
BSI=0.176SBD+0.063 (r 2 =0.571, P<0.05).
Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
:: -a 800
replications. The BSI was calculated from VSWC and SBD by
using equations obtained for the same soil (Hoque and
~! 400
Kobata 1998). o L - -_ _...L..-_ _---I

20
15

+"
10
,.Q
bJJ
'0; 0.2
~
5
>.
~ 0 ~=--....J.-_--'-_ _.L.-.-..._---' o L - -_ _...L..-_ _---I

o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Shoot dry weight (g plant-I)
Fig. 2. Root (RDW) and shoot (SDW) dry weight of Nippon-
bare (e) and Senshou (A) at various soil bulk densities at
35 days after sowing. The lines give the fitted linear regres-
sions ;
. : RDW=0.930SDW-0.296 (r 2 =0.953, P<0.05)
A : RDW = 1.086SDW - 0.304 (r 2 = 0.941, P < 0.05) .
Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
replications. The slope of the line connecting the origin and a
symbol indicates the root-to-shoot ratio of the plant grown
under the lowest (1.3 g cm- 3 ) and the highest (1.5 g cm- 3 )
SBD. Arrows indicate distance of the reduction of the root-to-
shoot ratio by increments of SBD.
1.3 1.4 1.5
Soil bulk density (g cm- 3 )
Fig. 3. Leaf area (LA), root length (RL) and root length per
unit leaf area of Nipponbare (e) and Senshou (A) under
various soil bulk densities at 35 days after sowing. The lines
give the fitted regressions;
e:LA=1747.2exp(-2.43SBD) (r 2 =0.589, ns)
A: LA=2298.lexp( -2.3lSBD) (r 2 =0.843, P<O.l)
e: RL= l1297620exp( -7.06SBD) (r 2 =0.964, P<0.05)
A: RL=2006644exp( -5.46SBD) (r 2 =0.992, P<O.Ol)
e, A: RL/LA=2286.0exp( -3.85SBD) (r 2 =0.874, P<O.OOl).
Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
replications.

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 Kobata and Hoque--Low Leaf Water Potential in Rice under Wet and Compacted Soils 17

Nipponbare (Fig. 3). In both cultivars, RL per unit leaf
area was similarly reduced as SBD increased.
At higher SBD 1/1'1 and T L decreased similarly in both
cultivars, although 1/1'1 in Senshou was slightly higher at
low SBD, and the reduction in Senshou more clearly
defined than for Nipponbare (Fig. 4). In both cultivars
C p was reduced in relation to increase in SBD. The
suppression of C p was accompanied by the decrease of
root length per unit leaf area (Fig. 5).
There was a close linear relationship between F and P,
~ 1.3 1.4 1.5
:c -0.5 .---------,-----,
~o -0.6 rl1
when the rate of P was increased from 0.3 to 0.6 MPa
(Fig. 6). Therefore C R is indicated by the slope of the
regression line. In both cultivars, CR increased in
response to higher levels of SBD (Fig. 7). Transpiration
rate per unit root length was accelerated by soil compac-
tion in both cultivars (Fig. 8). The close relationship
between C R and T L per unit root length (Fig. 9) indicat-
ed that the hydraulic conductance of the root system
affected the rate at which water was absorbed by roots.
Discussion
In several crops, the hydraulic conductance of plant or
plant organs affects 1/1'1 in dry soil (Saliendra and
Meinzer, 1992), in reduced and anaerobic soil (Hiras-
(I)

~ ~ -0.7
t.)

~ P-4 ...= -..

cd
0.06
~ ~ -0.8
--
t.)
:: .-;

~ '"d ~
~
C\i
-0.9 0=
t.)
.-;
0.05
cd
j -1.0" t.)
.I""'t ~
:: ~ 0.04
~

cd C'l
fo.t

0.04
'"d
~
S 0.03
t.)
,J:l

= --
btl
~

cd
P"""l 0.02
~ 6 10 14 18
Root length/leaf area (em em- 2)
Fig. 5. The relationship between plant hydraulic conductance
and root length per unit leaf area of Nipponbare(e) and
Senshou (.) under different soil bulk densities at 35 days
after sowing. The lines give the fitted regressions;
0'--------'------' C p =0.0024lRLjLA-0.0124 (r 2 =0.729, P<O.Ol).
Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
replications.
0.06
:::'
~
~~ 0.04 .I""'t

S 60
P-4 .-;

~ St.)

~ 0.02 bIJ
C,) S
<:.D

--
bJl
o
1.3
L - -_ _--L...-_ _----l

1.4 1.5
6
--
l"""'l

~
( I)

cd
fo.t
Soil bulk density (g cm- 3)
~
0
Fig. 4. Leaf water potential (-lfl) of a fully expanded top leaf, ~

transpiration rate (T L) and plant hydraulic conductance (C p ,
eq (2)) in Nipponbare (e) and Senshou (.) under various
soil bulk densities at 35 days after sowing. The curve lines give
the fitted regressions ;
1/;'1 = -0.0ISBD2+30.26SBD-20.78 (r 2 =0.679, P<0.05)
T L =0.I8exp( - 1.37SBD) (r 2 =0.72I, P<O.OI)
Cp = -0.123SBD-0.21O (r 2 =0.827, P<O.OI).
Values are means±one standard error of the mean of three
replications.
~
0.2 0.4 0.6
Pressure rate (MPa)
Fig. 6. Relationship between the flux of water per unit root
length and applied hydrostatic pressure in the rice plants
grown under different soil bulk densities (e: 1.30, /:). : 1.35,
D : 1.40 and.: 1.50 g cm- 3 ) in a pressure-flux experiment
(eq (3)). Values are means and one standard errors of three
replications. Root hydraulic conductance (C p ) was estimated
from the slope of the linear regressions through the origin.

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 18 Plant Production Science Vol. 2, 1999

..cl
::' ~
b1l
.S100
-
l=l
Cl)
S 4
~ 80
~
0 .-.

-S
0 ~

(,) ~
~ 60 ..Cl 3
~
Cl)
Ca ..p.;I

~ 40 ~ (,)
~ ~
btl 2
S 20 l=l
0
'!"'l
M

6
o
..p.;I
,-i
~
L . . . -_ _--L..-_ _- - l '-'
~
.!"'l
~
1.3 1.4 1.5 rJJ
l=l
Soil bulk density (g cm- 3 ) ~
~
E-t 00 50
Fig. 7. The relationship between root hydraulic conductance (by 100
pressure-flux experiment) and soil bulk density in Nipponbar- Root hydraulic conductance
e (e) and Senshou (.&.) at 35 days after sowing. The lines
(10- 6 mg MPa- 1 cm- I min-I)
give the fitted regressions;
C R =0.000348SBD-0.000424 (r 2 =0.754, P<O.Ol). Fig. 9. Transpiration rate per root length and plant hydraulic
Values are means±one standard error of the mean of three conductance of Nipponbare (e) and Senshou (4.) under
replications. different soil bulk densities at 35 days after sowing. The lines
give the fitted regressions;
T L=15.4C R +0.0016 (r 2 =0.792, P<O.Ol).
,J:l Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
~
btl
l=l
4 replications.
Q,)
...-l
~
~
.-<
6 A
0 ::' 3 ..j.;,

-S
0 ~
~
..Cl ~
,.....,
~
P..
Cl)
C,) .-< 4
~
Q,)
(,) 2 ~ ;::
~
~ ~
.-<

~ btl C,) 03
;j p.,
l=l M '"d 2
0 6 ~ ~
.!"'l 0
~
,-i C,) ~
'-'
~ C,)
~
'!"'l ~~ 0
~
rJJ o'------'---------' ~ 0.06
0 400 800 1200 1600
l=l
~ 1.3 1.4 1.5 E ;:::;" B
~ ~ ;::
E-t ~
Soil bulk density (g cm- 3 ) ~
,.....,
.-<
03
p., ~ 0.04
Fig. 8. Transpiration rate per root length (TL/RL) and soil bulk
C'I
density of Nipponbare (e) and Senshou (.&.) at 35 days
after sowing. The lines give the fitted regressions;
S
~O. 02
T L/RL = 0.00066SBD - 0.00667 (r 2 = 0.915, P < 0.00 1) .
Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
replications. OL.--e---'----'------..J

o 400 800 1200 1600

awa et al., 1992b) and in low-temperature soil (Bolger et
al., 1992, Fukuda et al., 1993). In some cases the hydrau-
lic conductance caused differences of fl between
cultivars (Saliendra and Meinzer, 1992) or species
(Gallardo et al., 1996). In present study, we estimated
that fl of rice grown under wet and compacted soil
conditions was also decreased by reduction of hydraulic
conductance (r=0.907, P<O.Ol , between fl and C p
when all results were combined), although the decrease
of fl has been observed only in one other instance for
rice (Hoque and Kobata, 1998). High C p and low T r
seemed to maintain a little higher fl in Senshou than in
Nipponbare under the low SBD (Fig. 4).
Root growth in rice was more sensitive to soil compac-
tion than shoot (Fig. 2), while in wheat high soil
Root length (em plant-I)
Fig. 10. Plant hydraulic conductance per plant (CPT) (A) or per
leaf (C p ) (B) in the plants of Nipponbare (e) and Senshou
(4.) having different root length (RL) , caused by increments
of soil bulk density, at 35 days after sowing. The lines give the
fitted regressions ;
e: C PT =1.48 In RL-7.l9 (r 2 =0.969)
C p =0.012 In RL-0.04 (r 2 =0.570)
.&.: CPT=3.85 In RL-22.74 (r 2 =0.975)
C p =0.0269 In R-0.146 (r 2 =0.974).
Values are means±one standard error of the mean of three
replications.
impedance reduced the growth of the shoot more than
that of the roots (Masle and Passioura, 1987). In peren-
nial ryegrass, redtop and white clover, root growth

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 Kobata and Hoque--Low Leaf Water Potential in Rice under Wet and Compacted Soils
,.......
~ 1.0
~ 0.8
Q)
~ ing from the root system (Masle and Passioura, 1987;
S 0.6
~
~ 0.4
~
g 0.2
~ considered to be one reason for such physiological sup-
0'------1.-.-----'
1.3 1.4 1.5
Soil bulk density (g cm- 3 )
Fig. 11. Changes of root diameter (RD) under different soil bulk
density in Nipponbare (e) and Senshou (.) at 35 days
after sowing. The root diameter was the mean of five thick
roots selected from the primary roots of each plant. The lines
give the fitted regressions;
e: RD= 1.778 In SBD+0.083 (r 2 =0.876, P<O.l)
. : RD=2.494 In SBD+0.018 (r 2 =0.934, P<0.05).
Values are means ± one standard error of the mean of three
replications.
decreased in proportion to the reduction of shoot growth
(Cook et al., 1995). The reduction of the water absorp-
tion area in the roots more severely than the reduction of
the transpiration area in the leaves, seemed to decrease
plant hydraulic conductance (Fig. 5), and resulted in
10wfJ·
The conductivity and absorption rate of water per unit
root length increased in compacted soils. It is possible
that increased root-soil contact may increase the con-
ductance and water absorption rate as was estimated in
french bean (Huang, 1990). This possibility should be
examined further. The compensating increase of water
absorption rate per unit root length at a high soil
compaction rate, however, may not overcome the effects
of the severe reduction of total root length (Fig. 4). This
assumption was supported by the result that plant
hydraulic conductance per plant or per unit leaf area
(C p ) of both cultivars was reduced with suppression of
root length, while hydraulic conductance per unit root
length, indicated by the slope of the curve, tended to
increase with the reduction in root length (Fig. 10). Root
length may strongly influence whole plant hydraulic
conductance. In some cases, root hydraulic resistance
contributed 45% of plant hydraulic resistance in rice
(Hirasawa et al., 1992b).
Although root mass and length were reduced, root
diameter seemed to be increased by high soil compac-
tion, (Fig. 11). Senshou had roots of larger diameter
than Nipponbare, but did not show particularly higher
rate of C R and T L per unit root length than Nipponbare
in the whole range of SBD. The larger root diameter of
Senshou did not seem to so clearly increase the plant's
capacity for water transport, but may be related to the
extension of the roots into deep soil layers to access to
water (Kobata et al., 1996).
Some evidence has suggested that suppression of leaf
19
expansion or stomatal conductance of wheat in wet
compacted soils as well as in desiccated soils is caused by
non-hydraulic control, such as a chemical signal originat-
Davies and Zhang, 1991; Passioura and Stirzaker,
1992). From our results, however reduction of leaf water
potential of rice in wet compacted soil conditions, which
occurs by high evaporative demand of the atmosphere, is
pression.
Acknowledgment
We thank T. Wako and Dr. F. Adachi for excellent
technical support in measurement of hydraulic con-
ductance for roots and of the soil water characteristics,
respectively.
References
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**In Japanese with English abstract.
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