Ozone impacts on allometry and root hydraulic conductance are not mediated by source limitation nor developmental age

Abstract

O(3)could reduce growth and carbohydrate allocation to roots by direct inhibition of photosynthesis and source strength. Alternatively, O(3) could reduce growth indirectly by inhibition of root hydraulic development through a primary lesion in carbohydrate translocation. Another alternative is that O(3) could slow the rate of plant development, only apparently altering carbohydrate allocation at a given plant age. Pima cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) is used to address these possibilities, and four hypotheses were tested/ (1) O(3) exposure reduces leaf pools of soluble sugars; (2) pruning leaf area and reducing source strength to match that of O(3)-treated plants reproduces O(3)-effects; (3) pruning lower leaf area more closely reproduces O(3) effects than pruning upper leaf area; and (4) manipulating plant age and thereby plant size to match O(3)-treated plants reproduces O(3)-effects. All were falsified. Soluble sugars did not decline. Pruning upper and lower leaves and manipulating plant age all reduced biomass and leaf area similarly to O(3)-exposure, but neither reproduced O(3) effects on biomass allocation nor root function. It is concluded that O(3) induces an allometric shift in carbohydrate allocation that is not mediated by photosynthetic inhibition nor by alteration of developmental age. Effects of O(3) could be mediated by direct effects on phloem loading, with consequent inhibition of translocation to roots and root system development.