Physiological and anatomical differences between subtropical forage plants grown in waterlogged alkaline-sodic soil

Abstract The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of 26 days of waterlogging, compared with field capacity, on different traits of the forage plants 'Finecut' Chloris gayana, 'Klein Verde' Panicum coloratum, and 'Shawnee' Panicum virgatum, grown in alkaline-sodic soil. Shoot and root dry mass, leaf greenness index, electrolyte leakage, and root histology were evaluated. The histological analysis was performed along the mid-portion of adventitious roots with a 2.0 mm diameter. Waterlogging inhibited the growth of P. coloratum, in addition to decreasing the leaf greenness index and causing injuries in the cell membrane of C. gayana and P. coloratum. At field capacity, only C. gayana and P. coloratum had aerenchyma; however, waterlogging induced the development and increased the area of the aerenchyma in P. virgatum and C. gayana, respectively. Waterlogging also thickened the exodermis and endodermis of all three genotypes, inducing a greater number of exodermis cell rows and a thicker internal tangential cell wall of the endodermis in C. gayana and P. virgatum. Although P. coloratum growth is more sensitive to waterlogging, there are radial oxygen loss barriers in the roots of the three evaluated genotypes.