Leaf water potential measurements using the pressure chamber : synthetic testing of assumptions towards best practices for precision and accuracy

Celia M. Rodriguez-Dominguez, Alicia Forner, Sebastia Martorell, Brendan Choat, Rosana Lopez, Jennifer M. R. Peters, Sebastian Pfautsch, Stefan Mayr, Madeline R. Carins-Murphy, Scott A. M. McAdam, Freya Richardson, Antonio Diza-Espejo, Virginia Hernandez-Santana, Paulo E. Menezes-Silva, Jose M. Torres-Ruiz, Timothy A. Batz, Lawren Sack

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

83 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Leaf water potential (ψleaf), typically measured using the pressure chamber, is the most important metric of plant water status, providing high theoretical value and information content for multiple applications in quantifying critical physiological processes including drought responses. Pressure chamber measurements of ψleaf (ψleafPC) are most typical, yet, the practical complexity of the technique and of the underlying theory has led to ambiguous understanding of the conditions to optimize measurements. Consequently, specific techniques and precautions diversified across the global research community, raising questions of reliability and repeatability. Here, we surveyed specific methods of ψleafPC from multiple laboratories, and synthesized experiments testing common assumptions and practices in ψleafPC for diverse species: (i) the need for equilibration of previously transpiring leaves; (ii) leaf storage before measurement; (iii) the equilibration of ψleaf for leaves on bagged branches of a range of dehydration; (iv) the equilibration of ψleaf across the lamina for bagged leaves, and the accuracy of measuring leaves with artificially ‘elongated petioles’; (v) the need in ψleaf measurements for bagging leaves and high humidity within the chamber; (vi) the need to avoid liquid water on leaf surfaces; (vii) the use of ‘pulse’ pressurization versus gradual pressurization; and (viii) variation among experimenters in ψleafPC determination. Based on our findings we provide a best practice protocol to maximise accuracy, and provide recommendations for ongoing species‐specific tests of important assumptions in future studies.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2037-2061
Number of pages25
JournalPlant, Cell and Environment
Volume45
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© 2022 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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