Mechanisms of drought response in Thuja occidentalis L. II. Post-conditioning water stress and stress relief.

We examined the extent of osmotic adjustment and the changes in relative water content (RWC) and transpiration rate (i.e., relative stomatal function) that occur in water-deficit-conditioned 6-year-old Thuja occidentalis L. (eastern white cedar) trees in response to a severe drought. Trees conditioned by successive cycles of mild or moderate nonlethal water stress (conditioning) and nonconditioned trees were exposed to drought (i.e., -2.0 MPa predawn water potential) to determine if water deficit conditioning enhanced tolerance to further drought stress. Following drought, all trees were well watered for 11 days to evaluate how quickly osmotic potential, RWC and transpiration rate returned to preconditioning values. Both nonconditioned trees and mildly conditioned trees exhibited similar responses to drought, whereas moderately conditioned trees maintained higher water potentials and transpiration rates were 38% lower. Both conditioned and nonconditioned trees exhibited a similar degree of osmotic adjustment (-0.39 MPa) in response to drought relative to the well-watered control trees. The well-watered control trees, nonconditioned trees and mildly conditioned trees had similar leaf RWCs that were about 3% lower than those of the moderately conditioned trees. Following the 11-day stress relief, there were no significant differences in osmotic potential between the well-watered control trees and any of the drought-treated trees. Daily transpiration rates and water potential integrals (WPI) of all drought-treated trees approached those of the well-watered control trees during the stress relief period. However, the relationship between cumulative transpiration and WPI showed that previous exposure to drought stress reduced transpiration rates. Leaf RWC of the moderately conditioned trees remained slightly higher than that of the nonconditioned and mildly conditioned trees.