Physiological trade-offs of stomatal closure under high evaporative gradients in field grown soybean

Limited rainfall is the main constraint to agriculture, making agricultural research to understand plant behaviour that leads to avoidance of soil water deficit a matter of priority. One focus has screened for crop varieties that decrease stomatal conductance under high vapour pressure deficit (VPD), a proxy for the leaf evaporative gradient. However, the link between stomatal closure and physiological consequences in field environments is not yet clear. A field experiment on soybeans demonstrated that considerable variation in leaf temperature relative to air temperature occurred, leading to evaporative gradients differing substantially from VPD. Thus, transpiration is decreased by stomatal closure at high VPD, but to compensate, transpiration is somewhat increased due to higher leaf temperatures. Soil water deficit led to lower stomatal conductance, particularly under low evaporative conditions, not just under hot conditions. Non-stomatal photosynthetic limitations were observed due to combined occurrence of stomatal closure and high temperature under high VPD. Although leaves reached temperatures higher than the threshold for a decrease in maximum photochemical efficiency, and displayed non-stomatal photosynthetic limitations, no photoinhibition or damage was observed by night-time. The results demonstrate that more understanding of physiological strategies for achieving altered water use is needed to avoid trade-offs and heat stress.