Container volume affects drought experiments in grapevines: Insights on xylem anatomy and time of dehydration

Plant stress experiments are commonly performed with plants grown in containers to better control environmental conditions. Nevertheless, the container can constrain plant growth and development, and this confounding effect is generally ignored, particularly in studies on woody species. Here, we evaluate the effect of the container volume in drought experiments using grapevine as a model plant. Grapevines grown in small (7 L, S) or large (20 L, L) containers were subjected to drought stress and rewatering treatments. We monitored plant stomatal conductance (g_s ), midday stem water potential (Ψ_s ), and photosynthetic rate (A_N ) throughout the experiment. The effect of the container volume on the stem and petiole xylem anatomy, as well as on the total leaf area (LA), was assessed before drought imposition. The results showed that LA did not differ between plants in L or S containers, but S vines exhibited a higher theoretical hydraulic conductance at the petiole level. Under drought L and S similarly reduced g_s and A_N , but plants in S containers reached lower Ψ_s than those in L. Nevertheless, upon rewatering droughted plants in S containers exhibited a faster stomata re-opening than those in L, probably as a consequence of the differences in the stress degree experienced and the biochemical adjustment at the leaf level. Therefore, a suitable experimental design should consider the container volume used in relation to the desired traits to be studied for unbiased results.