Methods

Selected methods in applied plant stress research

 Notice:  None of the methods listed here are under special recommendation by Plantstress.com

GENERAL STRESS METHODS

Obtain climatic data for your location

New handbook for standardized measurement of plant functional traits worldwide (via DiverSus – mainly ecology)

Root Methods

Pollen germination and pollen tube elongation

Pollen viability/sterility tests – Item1Item2

Practical approaches to plant volatile analysis

Soluble carbohydrates  (SEE also WSC under drought)

Hormone Analysis – problems and solutions

Phytohormones: abscisic acid, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid in Arabidopsis

Ethylene determination in plants

Chlorophyll determination

CHLOROPHYLL FLUORESCENCE – PRINCIPLES AND APPS  (See book)

Xylem sap collection and extraction to determine abscisic acid

Proline analysis – The still popular fast method by Bates et al. (1973) – and more

SPECTRAL CANOPY SIGNATURES AND REMOTE SENSING FOR ASSESSING CROP STRESS AND PRODUCTIVITY:

Plant Image Analysis – a collection of software

Wheat Physiological Breeding II: A Field Guide to Wheat Phenotyping. (CIMMYT publication) (Large pdf file).

Various Plant Biology Protocols (links on this site)

Measuring the greenhouse environment

To appreciate modern advanced instrumentation – See how leaf gas exchange was measured in the field in 1970’s

Using pots in plant research – not so simple

 

DROUGHT STRESS

Soil moisture methods (review and tests)

PLANT WATER STATUS

A NEW NON-EVASIVE TURGOR RELATED MONITORING OF PLANT WATER STATUS

 

An electronic potometer for studying plant water use in real time

Stomatal condcutance (an example from CIMMYT; instruments may vary)

Rapid colorimetric assay for epicuticular wax – Tested against the classical gravimetric method

‘Stay-green’ laboratory assay under non-stress conditions (sorghum)

Using PEG for controlling plant water status in experiments

o   XYLEM VULNERABILITY TO CAVITATION AND EMBOLISM IN WOODY PLANTS

§  Conduits in wood – their measurements and the assessment of hydraulic vulnerability 

§  More on Xylem vulnerability curves

§  Visualizations of Drought-Induced Embolism

§  Methods of measuring Vulnerability to cavitation

o   IMPROVING WHEAT GRAIN FILLING UNDER STRESS BY STEM RESERVE UTILIZATION

§  Water Soluble Carbohydrates (WSC) determination in stems (wheat example from CIMMYT).

§  Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) for quantifying stem carbohydrates

o   The Drought (Stress) Resistance Index – Estimating drought resistance in terms of yield or biomass

o   C-isotope composition as a measure of intrinsic water-use efficiency

o   THE MANAGED DROUGHT STRESS ENVIRONMENT IN THE FIELD

§  An Australian case for wheat

§  Rainout shelters – some basic principles of design and operation

HEAT STRESS

o   Cell Membrane Stability (CMS) by the electro-conductivity method

o   Chlorophyll content reduction under heat stress – see Leaf chlorophyll

o   Chlorophyll Fluorescence (see under General Stress above)

o   Pollen dysfunction under heat stress (see under General Stress above)

o   High-Throughput Screening of Temperature-Sensitive rice grain a-Amylase

o   Heat tolerance phenotyping in the growth chamber – important issues to consider

COLD STRESS

o   Freezing tests

o   Cold tolerance tests in temperate cereals

o   Cold tolerance tests in rice

o   Chlorophyll Fluorescence for chilling stress (see under General Stress above)

o   Pollen dysfunction under chilling stress (see under General Stress above)