FLOODING STRESS

Dr. K. VENKATESAN
Professor (CRP)
 FLOODING STRESS
• Flooding, resulting in soil water logging
•in many situations even complete submergence of plants

• The number of floods has increased in recent decades and the

severity of floods is expected to increase further

• Flooding reduces agricultural production

• floods shape many natural plant communities (e.g. floodplains,
wetlands, salt marshes).
A spectacular example of an important natural ecosystem
shaped by flooding is the Amazon Floodplain forests, in which
seasonal floods are deep and prolonged.
Graph show the number of floods classified as a disaster in the International Disaster
Database of the University of Louvain, Belgium, for decades from 1950 through 2000.
Floods resulted from rivers after heavy rainfall or snow melts, and coastal flooding.
Data from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment map
 Changes occurring in soil during flooding
 As soon as O2 is depleted, NO3- is used by some soil
microorganisms as an alternative electron acceptor in their
respiration
NO3- is reduced to NH4+, so it becomes the main form of
mineral nitrogen in waterlogged soils.
Manganese oxides are the next electron acceptors used by
anaerobic microorganisms, followed by iron oxides resulting,
in elevated concentrations of Mn2+ and Fe2+ in the soil solution;
these soluble forms often toxic to plants.
Further decrease in the redox potential results in the reduction
of SO42- to H2S, which is also potentially toxic.
In addition to these inorganic phytotoxins (Fe2+, Mn2+, or H2S),
various short-chain fatty acids can also accumulate in
waterlogged soils.
Relative distributions of CO2, HCO3- and CO32- as a function of pH in
water.
• When CO2 dissolves in water, it reacts with water:
CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 ↔ HCO3- + H+ ↔ CO32- + H+.

• Below pH 6 most of the dissolved inorganic carbon is

available as CO2.

• Between pH 7 and 10, the alkaline ion HCO3- dominates,

which can be used only by the most specialised aquatic
plants as an inorganic carbon source.

• Only at pH higher than 10, a significant proportion of

the dissolved inorganic carbon is in the form of CO32-,
which plants cannot use in photosynthesis.
 Metabolic adaptations...
•When plants are completely submerged and in darkness, no photosynthesis
occurs, O2 can become exhausted by respiration resulting in tissue anoxia.
• Prolonged anoxia is tolerated by rhizomes, tubers and some shoot organs of
wetland species, and by germinating seeds of rice and some paddy weeds (e.g.
barnyard grass).
• More commonly, anoxia can occur in portions of the plant body (e.g. roots), or
parts of tissues within roots. ‘
• Anoxia prevents
pyruvate from entering
the TCA cycle because
O2 is unavailable as a
terminal electron
acceptor.

• Carbon is diverted to
fermentative end-
products, allowing
oxidation of NADH and
sustained catabolism of
carbohydrates.
 Two traits that are contrasting…
•Flood tolerant plants exposed to complete submergence exploit two contrasting suites
of traits, escape or quiescence, to survive this stress.

Plants with the escape strategy:

• (i)increase the growth rate of shoot organs, such as petioles and stems, so as to
emerge above floodwaters, and
• (ii) initiate the development of aerenchyma to facilitate internal gas diffusion.

Quiescent plants, “wait out the submergence event” and are characterized by:
• (i) by conservation of carbohydrates and retention of chlorophyll, for example, a
reduction of the underwater growth rate, and
• (ii) an increase of molecular components that prepare shoot and root organs for
future conditions with low O2 and production of protective molecules that counteract harmful
cellular changes associated with flooding, such as production of ROS.
 Photosynthesis responses
A common response to flooding is the reduction of plant
carbon fixation. In the short term, photosynthesis can drop as a
result of a restriction of CO2 uptake due to
stomata closing
lower leaf chlorophyll content
a reduced activity of carboxylation enzymes, and
an oxidative damage on photosystem II by reactive oxygen
species
both the content of Rubisco protein as well as its activation
can be significantly reduced
 Effect of flooding stress on the endogenous levels of PGRs
and their effect on plants

•Endogenous levels of PGRs such as GA and cytokinins (CK) are

reduced in the roots.

•This has enhanced levels of ABA and ethylene in the shoots causing
stomatal closure and early onset of senescence

•It is also reported that levels of auxins are reduced and that of
Aminocyclopropane -1-Carboxylic Acid (ACC), precursor for the ethylene
biosynthesis are increased under flooding stress.

• Important roles played by these endogenous PGRs during high

moisture (flooding) stress are summarized in the following table.
 Level of PGR in
Sl. No. Effects on plants under water logging
plants

Causes “Hypertrophy” (Swelling of stem base by collapse or

1. Reduced Auxins enlargement of cells in cortex)

2. Decreased GA Causes reduction in cell enlargement and stem elongation

Results in early on-set of senescence and reduced rate of assimilate

3. Decreased CK partitioning to the sinks

Cause stomatal closure with consequential decrease in the rate of gas

exchanges during photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration; results
in efflux of K+ from the guard cells; decreases ion transport due to lower
4. Increased ABA rate of transpiration; decrease the starch formation in the guard cells
resulting in stomatal closure

Causes “Epinasty” of leaves (uneven growth of leaves due to more cell

elongation on upper side than the lower side of the leaf); induces
5. Increased Ethylene senescence and Hypertrophy in plants.
 Hormones
•Hormonal changes, especially the concentration of ethylene in
hypoxic tissues, initiate structural adaptations.
•Ethylene stimulates cellulase activity in the cortical cells of
number of plant species, with the subsequent collapse and
disintegration of cell walls.
•Ethylene stimulate the formation of adventitious roots, which
develop in both flood-tolerant trees and herbaceous species and
flood-intolerant plants just above the anaerobic zone when these
plants are flooded.
• These roots are able to function normally in an aerobic
environment.
Adventitious root development in response to flooding
 Anoxia
Flood-tolerant species (hydrophytes) possess a
range of adaptations that enable them either
to tolerate stresses or to avoid them. There
are several adaptations by hydrophytes that
allow them to tolerate anoxia in wetland
soils. These adaptations can be grouped into
two main categories
1) Morphological
2) Physiological
 Resources - Oxygen deficiency

Factors and resources - Oxygen deficiency

1) Structural Adaptations (morphological)
a. Aerenchyma
b. Special organs or responses
Adventitious roots
Stem elongation
Hypertrophied lenticels
Pneumatophores

2) Physiological adaptations
a. Anaerobic respiration
b. Malate production
 Aerenchyma
Allows the diffusion of oxygen from the aerial portions of the plant into the
roots .
Root aerenchyma

Root aerenchyma
Adventitious Roots
 Stem Elongation
•stimulated by submergence
•in some aquatic and
semiaquatic plants
-Floating Heart (Nymphoides peltata) right
-Wild Rice (Oryza sativa)

-Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum).

 Prop Roots
Red mangrove (Rhizophora spp.)
grows on arched prop roots in tropical
and subtropical tidal swamps around
the world. These have numerous
small lenticels above the tide level
which terminate in long, spongy, air-
filled, submerged roots.
Mangroves
 Mitigation of water logging
•Spray of growth retardant of 500 ppm cycocel for arresting apical dominance
and thereby promoting growth of laterals
•Foliar spray of 2% DAP + 1% KCl (MOP)
•Nipping terminal buds for arresting apical dominance and thus promoting
growth sympodial branches (as in cotton) for increasing productivity
•Spray of 40 ppm NAA for controlling excessive pre-mature fall of
flowering/buds/young developing fruits and pods
•Spray of 0.5 ppm brassinolide for increasing photosynthetic activity
•Foliar spray of 100 ppm salicylic acid for increasing stem reserve utilization
under high moisture stress.
•Foliar spray of 0.3 % Boric acid + 0.5 % ZnSO4 + 0.5 % FeSO4 + 1.0 % urea
during critical stages of the stress
•Providing adequate drainage for draining excessive stagnating water around
the root system.