THE VARIETIES OF CAMELLIA OLEIFERAABELCONTRIBUTIONS TO LEAF MORPHOLOGICALCHARACTERISTICS AND CHLOROPHYLLFLUORESCENCE PARAMETERSDURING AN EXTREME DROUGHT

摘要

The importance of leaf phenotypic characteris- tics and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in the screening of plant high photosynthesis ability is rel- atively unknown. The drought resistance of plants can be indicated by chlorophyll fluorescence param- eters, leaf phenotypic characteristics and leaf nutri- ent content. During a severe drought, we studied 12 C. oleifera varieties with the same forest age planted in National Gene Bank of C. oleifera GermplasmResources, Jiangxi Academy of Forestry, China. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, leaf pheno- typic characteristics and leaf nutrient content were determined, and the drought-resistance of the 12 C. oleifera varieties was evaluated comprehensively by principal component analysis. Principal component scores ranking shows that 12 C. oleifera varieties can be divided into four types. Gan 62 and Gan 64 are the varieties with the strongest drought resistance. Gan71, Gan447, Gan59 and Ganxing 48 are the va- rieties with strong drought resistance. Ganfu 20, Ganshi 83-6, Gan 51 and Gan68 were generaly drought-resistant varieties, while Ganwu3 and Gan- shi 83-3 were the least drought-resistant varieties. Our study illustrates the importance of screening of plant high photosynthesis ability of different varie- ties of C. oleifera to survive environmental stress such as drought.