Growth-limiting deficiencies of N or P substantially decrease the hydraulic conductance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) roots. This shift could result from decreased hydraulic conductivity of cells in the radial flow pathway. A pressure microprobe was used to study water relations of cortical cells in roots of cotton seedlings stressed for N or P. During 10 days of seedling growth on a complete nutrient solution, root cell turgor was stable at 0.4 to 0.5 megapascal, the volumetric elastic modulus increased slowly from 6 to 10 megapascals, and the half-time for water exchange increased from 10 to 15 seconds. In seedlings transferred to N-free solution for 10 days, final values for each of those parameters were approximately doubled. Root cell hydraulic conductivity (cell Lp) was 1.4 × 10−7 meters per second per megapascal at the time of transfer. In the well-nourished controls, cell Lp decreased over 10 days to 38% of the initial value, but in the N-stressed plants it decreased much more sharply, reaching 6% of the initial value after 10 days. Transfer to solutions without P or with an intermediate level of N also decreased cell Lp. The changes in root cell Lp were consistent with nutrient effects on intact-root water relations demonstrated earlier. However, cell Lp was about half that of the intact root, implying that substantial water flow may follow an apoplastic pathway, bypassing the cortical cells from which these values were derived.
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