Course: Plant Physiology

Code: 308 Bot

Students: Third year Botany

Lecture 4 (Water relationships)

Dr. Taha Mohamed El-Katony

 Chapter III. Water loss:
Transpiration and Guttation
Water is the major constituent of plant body, yet only a
small portion of the absorbed water is retained for
metabolic processes.

Most of the absorbed water is translocated to the

leaves and lost to the atmosphere due to the
anatomical features of the leaves.

Aside from the role of water in maintenance of

turgidity and in translocation of dissolved minerals,
water use in plants is inefficient.
Water loss from plants occurs primarily through
transpiration, in addition to minor contribution
from guttation, secretion and bleeding.
Secretion is the loss of liquid water in the form
solution from glands and nectaries. Water is
actively secreted from water glands; that is,
the cells surrounding the pore actively
participate in pushing water through the pore.
Bleeding is loss of liquid water from wounds.
Guttation is loss of liquid water, from leaf tips or
margins through specialized structures called
hydathodes, from plants growing in a moist,
warm soil in humid conditions.
The factors that favor
guttation are high water
absorption, high root
pressure and reduced or no
transpiration.
Water exudes from a
hydathode as a result of the
hydrostatic pressure of
xylem sap and not as a result
of any local activity in the
hydathode or surrounding
tissues.
The guttation liquid is not pure
water, but a solution containing
a great variety of dissolved
substances including
phytohormones such as
cytokinins.
When guttation water evaporates,
the dissolved materials appear
as precipitates on the leaf
surface and can be redissolved
and taken by the leaf again.
The salt concentration is very
high and may injure the leaf.
 Transpiration

Water is lost from the plant primarily in the form

of vapor, by transpiration.

Features of the leaf facilitating transpiration:

1- The loose arrangement of the mesophyll cells,
means abundance of intercellular spaces and
ideal conditions for evaporation of water from
internal leaf surfaces (the surface
phenomenon). Is transpiration a passive
process?

2- The leaf epidermis is occupied by a large

number of minute pores; the stomata.

The stomatal pores provide a path from the

interior of the leaf to the environment.
The transpiration stream can be viewed as an
unbroken column of water, pulled from the soil
through the roots, up the xylem ducts, out of
the mesophyll cells to their surface, into the
intercellular spaces as vapor, and through the
stomatal pores into the atmosphere.
3- The morphology and position of the leaf.
The leaf is flattened which means large
surface area. The surface phenomenon again;
compare the surface/volume ratio of a sphere
(storage organ or fruit), cylinder (the stem)
and a flattened cuboid (the leaf).
In addition the leaf projects from the stem in
different directions which maximizes exposure
to the atmosphere.
Three types of transpiration: one major (stomatal)
and two minor (cuticular and lenticular)
Cuticular transpiration is direct water vapor loss
from the surfaces of leaves and herbaceous
stems through the cuticle.
Cuticle is the cutin layer covering the surface of
leaves to retard water loss. Nevertheless, the
cuticle can permit water vapor loss.
The extent of cuticular transpiration varies greatly
among species.
In sun leaves and xerophytes the cuticle is thick
and cuticular transpiration is insignificant.
In shade leaves, mesophytes and particularly
hydrophytes the cuticle is thin and the plant may
suffer from wilting under high transpiration.
Lenticular transpiration is water vapor loss
through lenticels, which are small openings in
the corky tissue covering stems and twigs.

Stomatal transpiration is the major type.

But under very dry conditions, stomata are closed,
cuticular and lenticular transpiration are
significant.
lenticular transpiration may cause desiccation in
trees that shed their leaves at the onset of
winter.
During a cold winter, water absorption by roots is
low and the importance of lenticular
transpiration is increased.
Magnitude of transpiration
Most of the absorbed water is transpired.
In herbaceous plants, the entire plant water
may be replaced in the course of a single
day. The amount of water lost varies
according to species.
Examples:
1- Herbs: during one season a corn plant
transpires up to 54 gallons (205 l) of water
and an acre (4047 m2) transpires 15 inches
(37.5 cm) of water.
2- Trees: an average forest may lose up to
8000 gallons (30.4 m3) of water/acre/day. A
silver maple tree transpires as much as 58
gallons per hour.
Magnitude of transpiration per plant during
growing season for five plant species.

Plant species Transpiration

(gal/plant/season)
Cowpea 13
Irish potato 25
Winter wheat 25
Tomato 34
Corn 54
Measurement of transpiration
Transpiration can be estimated by measuring
either the water absorbed or the water vapor
transpired by a plant.

The first approach takes advantage of the

accordance between absorption and
transpiration.

However, there are exceptions to this rule.

1. Weighing method.
It is the simplest way.
Accomplished by weighing a potted plant at time
intervals.
The soil surface and the pot should be covered with a
water repellent material to retard
evaporation from surfaces other
than the plant.
The loss of weight over a short
time will be due to transpiration.
Gain or loss of weight due to
photosynthesis or respiration is
insignificant.
This method is restricted to small plants .

For big plants, a very large balance (lysimeter) is used.

Plants, in a large container, are placed in a weighing

platform and the amount of evapotranspiration is
measured by weighing the container.

Transpiration of excised leaves, fruits and branches can

be measured by immediately weighing the organ
after excision and then reweighing after a short
period of time.
The relative rates of transpiration may be
compared in this case , but transpiration of
an excised organ deviates from that of intact
plant.

In the initial stages the rate of transpiration of

an excised organ may exceed normal rates,
because of the release of tension in the xylem
ducts.

After a short period transpiration rates will fall

off because of: 1- decrease in the water
content of the tissue, 2- stomatal closure, 3-
permeability changes, and so on.
2. Potometer.
This method works on the premise that, rate of water absorption equals the
rate of transpiration.
A plant shoot is sealed into a water-filled glass vessel, which has two other
outlets: a graduated capillary and a water reservoir.
First, the entire apparatus is filled with water with no air spaces, by
manipulating the stopcock, which controls the flow of water into the
vessel from the reservoir.
An air bubble is then introduced into the capillary tube.
As transpiration proceeds, the air bubble will move along the capillary and
give a measure of the rate of transpiration.
The potometer method is ideal for studying the effect of
environmental factors (temperature, light, air movement)
on transpiration.
However, its reliability is limited because it actually
measures water absorption rather than transpiration:
under certain circumstances the two can vary
considerably.
3. Collection and weighing of water vapor.
The plant is confined in a glass container; air of known
moisture content is passed over it and then passed over
pre-weighed water-adsorbent such as anhydrous CaCl2, so
that water vapor can be trapped and weighed.
The moisture content of air passed over the plant is
measured by passing it through the same apparatus
minus the plant (the control).
The difference in CaCl2 weight before
and after air is passed through
it is a measure of air moisture.
The difference in weight between
CaCl2 receiving air passed over the
plant and CaCl2 receiving air passed
through the check apparatus is a measure
of transpiration.
4. Cuvette.
It is a modification of the vapor method.
It allows studying the effect of environmental factors
(light, temperature and humidity) on transpiration
of a single leaf.
It is ideal for laboratory work but not for the field.
Air of known humidity is introduced
into the cuvette, passed over
the leaf and collected after it exits.
The increase in air humidity is
a measure of transpiration.
In the field, tent chambers equipped
with air inlets and outlets and
temperature-sensors are used.
5. Cobalt chloride.
This method depends on a change in color, not in weight.
Filter paper discs are impregnated with a slightly acidic
3% solution of CoCl2 and thoroughly dried.
The dry paper is blue in color and changes to pink when
exposed to humid air from a transpiring leaf.
The rate of color change is indicative of the rate of
transpiration.
The CoCl2 method can measure only the relative rates of
transpiration of different plants.
Criticism
Transpiration rates estimated by CoCl2 method
differ from the actual rates, due to
modifications of environmental conditions.
The surface of the leaf covered by the paper
is subjected to:
a) practically no air movement,
b) a reduction in irradiance and
c) a steeper vapor pressure gradient.