Relationship between NMR relaxation characteristics and water activity in cereal leaves

The relationship of imposed water activity a(w) (equilibrium relative humidity) with conventional water status parameters and proton spin-lattice relaxation time T1 of leaf water was studied in pearl millet and wheat. The water activities of different levels were created by equilibrating the leaves in varying concentrations of PEG-6000 solutions. With decreasing a(w), relative water content and T1 decreased linearly and other variables (leaf water potential and leaf water content) decreased exponentially upto a dehydration level of a(w) approximately 0.978 for pearl millet, 0.986 for drought susceptible wheat var. HD2329 and 0.975 for tolerant wheat var. C306. Below that level there was abrupt reduction in all parameters except T1 which registered an increase. The changes in short and long components of T1 with changes in a(w) have also have been discussed for pearl millet.