ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1622308

Leaf hydraulic decline coordinates stomatal and photosynthetic limitations through anatomical adjustments under drought stress in cotton

Provisionally accepted
Xiuli LiXiuli Li1Shuo WangShuo Wang1Lingxiao ZhuLingxiao Zhu1Peng ZhangPeng Zhang1Hong QiHong Qi2Ke ZhangKe Zhang1Hongchun SunHongchun Sun1Yongjiang ZhangYongjiang Zhang1Xiaopeng LeiXiaopeng Lei2Anchang LiAnchang Li1Cundong LiCundong Li1*Zhanbiao WangZhanbiao Wang3*Liantao LiuLiantao Liu1*
  • 1Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
  • 2Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Shijiazhuang, China
  • 3National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Anyang, China

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Drought stress detrimentally impacts leaf water transport, lowering transpiration and photosynthetic efficiency and ultimately reducing seed cotton yield. This study investigated the relationship between leaf hydraulic and photosynthetic traits in cotton under three moisture treatments: control (CK), moderate drought (MD), and severe drought (SD). By day 28 after drought stress, drought stress significantly impaired leaf hydraulics, as demonstrated by decreases in leaf hydraulic conductivity (Kleaf) (9.81% under MD, 12.93% under SD) and leaf water potential (5.79% under MD, 17.54% under SD). Key contributing factors included reduced xylem vessel diameter and number, diminished minor vein density, and decreased aquaporin gene expression. In addition, stomatal width and aperture were significantly reduced with increasing drought severity. Compared with CK, stomatal width and aperture decreased by 6.83% and 33 13.22% under MD, and by 20.59% and 19.92% under HD. These changes resulted in lower stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and biomass accumulation, inhibiting growth and reducing plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area. The

Keywords: Drought stress, Leaf hydraulic conductivity, leaf anatomy, Stomatal characteristics, Photosynthetic traits

Received: 03 May 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Li, Wang, Zhu, Zhang, Qi, Zhang, Sun, Zhang, Lei, Li, Li, Wang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Cundong Li, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
Zhanbiao Wang, National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, Anyang, China
Liantao Liu, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material