Carry-over effects of ozone and water stress on leaf phenological characteristics and bud frost hardiness of Fagus crenata seedlings

Author： Yonekura Tetsushi

Publisher： Springer Publishing Company

ISSN： 0931-1890

Source： Trees, Vol.18, Iss.5, 2004-09, pp. : 581-588

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Abstract

We examined the carry-over effects of ozone (O₃) and/or water stress on leaf phenological characteristics and bud frost hardiness of Fagus crenata seedlings. Three-year-old seedlings were exposed to charcoal-filtered air or 60 nl l⁻¹ O₃, 7 h a day, from May to October 1999 in naturally-lit growth chambers. Half of the seedlings in each gas treatment received 250 ml of water at 3-day intervals (well-watered treatment), while the rest received 175 ml of water at the same intervals (water-stressed treatment). All the seedlings were moved from the growth chambers to an experimental field on October 1999, and grown until April 2000 under field conditions. The exposure to O₃ during the growing season induced early leaf fall and reduction in leaf non-structural carbohydrates concentrations in the early autumn, as well as resulting in late bud break and reduction in the number of leaves per bud in the following spring. However, O₃ did not affect bud frost hardiness in the following winter. On the contrary, water stress did not affect leaf phenological characteristics, leaf and bud non-structural carbohydrates concentrations and bud frost hardiness. There were no significant synergistic or antagonistic effects of O₃ and water stress on leaf phenological characteristics, concentrations of leaf and bud non-structural carbohydrates and bud frost hardiness of the seedlings. These results show that the carry-over effects of O₃ can be found on the phenological characteristics and leaf non-structural carbohydrates concentrations, although there are almost no carry-over effects of water stress on phenological characteristics and winter hardiness of the seedlings.