Leaf Expansion and Transpiration Responses of Millet Species to Soil Water Deficit

Plant processes, such as leaf expansion, stomatal conductance and transpiration, are affected by soil water, particularly in water-stressed environments. Quantifying the effects of soil water on plant processes, especially leaf expansion and transpiration, could be useful for crop modeling. In order to quantify the leaf expansion and transpiration in response to soil water deficit in three millet species, common (Panicum miliaceum L.), pearl (Pennisetum glaucum L.) and foxtail (Setaria italica L.) millets, a pot experiment was performed at the Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran. The soil water status was characterized by the fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW). Leaf area and transpiration were measured daily. Relative leaf area expansion (RL) and relative transpiration (RT) data were plotted against FTSW. Finally the FTSW thresholds for RL and RT were calculated using linear-plateau and logistic models. The results showed that the thresholds for RL and RT were 0.68 and 0.62, respectively, based on all measured data of the three millet species using the linear-plateau model, indicating that RL and RT were constant when FTSW decreased from 1 to the threshold point. Thereafter, until FTSW = 0, RL and RT declined linearly with a slope of 1.48 and 1.43, respectively. Although millet is cultivated as a resistant crop in arid, semiarid and marginal lands, it showed an early response to soil water deficit at high FTSW thresholds. As leaf expansion and transpiration can be considered morphological and physiological variables, respectively, the results in this study indicate that millet has strong morphological flexibility when faced with soil water deficit.