Physiological responses to drought and shade in two contrasting Picea asperata populations

The responses of photosynthetic gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, activities of antioxidant enzymes and lipid membrane peroxidation of two contrasting Picea asperata Mast. populations to 30% of full sunlight (shade) and full sunlight (sun) were investigated under well-watered and drought conditions. Two contrasting populations were from the wet and dry climate regions in China, respectively. For both populations tested, drought resulted in lower needle relative water content (RWC), CO2 assimilation rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs) and effective PSII quantum yield (Y), and higher non-photochemical quenching (qN), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and electrolyte leakage in sun plants, whereas these changes were not significant in shade plants. For the wet climate population, shade plants showed higher chlorophyll contents (Chla, Chlb and Chla + b) than sun plants under both well-watered and drought conditions. Our study results implied that shade, applied together with drought, ameliorated the detrimental effects of drought. On the other hand, compared with the wet climate population, the dry climate population was more tolerant to drought in the sun treatment, as indicated by less decreases in A and mass-based leaf nitrogen content (N-mass), more responsive stomata, greater capacity for non-radiative dissipation of excitation energy as heat (analysed by qN), and higher level of antioxidant enzyme activities as well as lower MDA content and electrolyte leakage. These results demonstrated that the different physiological strategies were employed by the P. asperata populations from contrasting climate regions when the plants were exposed to drought and shade.