Genetic variability in the physiological responses of Andean lupin to drought stress

Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses that causes significant reductions in crop yield, and thus hinders the food security of the growing world population. In consequence, it is urgent to select crops able to resist drought, maintain high yield and have a good nutritive content. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the responses of different accessions of Andean lupin to drought stress, and identify if there are significant differences in their physiological responses. To identify germplasm for further investigation, thirty accessions of Lupinus mutabilis Sweet. and one accession of L. albococcineus Hort. were screened in two sets, A of 15 and B of 16 accessions. From these sets, four lines were chosen on the basis of extreme values in the measurements, and this set of four was investigated in depth (set C). In all experiments, ten seeds of each chosen accession were sown in pots and grown in a glasshouse with 22°C, 18 h days and 18°C, 6 h nights, and were well watered until day 50 after planting. The pots were arranged in a randomized complete block design. The eight most uniform plants were chosen, and four were exposed to water stress while watering of the other four was continued. Water stress consisted of controlled water loss from the soil, 20% water holding capacity at 2% per day over 9 days, so the soil reached 2% moisture content and was held at this level for 2 days more. In all experiments, leaf temperature, stomatal conductance, relative water content, water potential, ion membrane leakage, and shoot dry weight were measured and transpiration efficiency was calculated. In set C, carbon isotope discrimination, root length, root dry matter, proline content and soluble sugar content were also determined. The analysis of set A and B revealed significant differences between treatments for all the parameters measured, except for relative water content, and there were also differences amongst accessions in certain parameters. PI 457972 and PI 457981 were selected for further investigation because of their low stomatal conductance under water stress conditions and low water use, and PI 510572 was selected as sensitive to drought stress due to its high water use, ion membrane leakage and water potential under water stress conditions. In addition AC 2792 (L. albococcineus) was selected due to its low stomatal conductance and water use, and high leaf temperature under water stress conditions. In the final experiment, PI 457981 and PI 457972 appeared to avoid drought through appropriate stomatal characteristics. PI 457981 showed low stomatal conductance, high leaf temperature and also high root length, similarly, accession PI 457972 showed low water potential, low stomatal conductance, low carbon isotope discrimination and accumulation of soluble sugars. Accession PI 510572 contrasted for these stomatal traits, but interestingly it showed low membrane ion leakage, high proline content and soluble sugars content, suggesting that it was capable of drought tolerance by osmotic adjustment. Finally, accession AC2792 showed low water use, low water potential and low carbon isotope discrimination. This survey thus identified accessions of Andean lupin that were able to avoid drought stress through stomatal traits and root traits, and other that were able to tolerate drought through the accumulation of osmotically active substances. Thus, there are good prospects for breeding of Andean lupin to improve its drought resistance.