[Plantsci] SPLS Tuesday Seminar – Today - Jim Legins and Rodrigo Silva, University of Arizona

[Xiong, Zhongguo - (zxiong)]

Dear all,

Please join us in Marley 230<https://map.arizona.edu/107> at 4:00 PM today for a double-header seminar session co-presented by Jim Legins and Rodrigo Silva, School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona. Dr. Duke Pauli will serve as the host.

Zoom link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/84253432688  (password: SPLS2025).
Refreshments will be provided in the Marley Lobby at 3:30 PM.

Jim’s Seminar Title: High-Performing Upland Cotton Shifts Root-Associated Microbiomes Under Water Limitation

Abstract: Water scarcity significantly threatens cotton productivity, a challenge amplified by climate change and increasing competition for limited water resources. As a major source of natural fiber, cotton's resilience to drought stress is essential for maintaining productivity and supporting global textile production. However, the mechanisms underlying this resilience, particularly the role of root-associated microbial communities that may influence plant drought stress responses, remain unclear. Here, we used amplicon sequencing on the Illumina platform to quantify plasticity of microbial communities associated with roots of six cotton cultivars grown under water-limiting and well-watered conditions in a hot, arid environment. Communities of microbes broadly resemble those in other arid-land crops, but with distinctive species not detected in roots of sorghum, lettuce, or tepary bean in the same location. The highest-yielding cotton cultivars markedly shifted their root microbial communities between irrigation treatments, whereas low-yielding cultivars showed less responsiveness. Microbiome shifts in high performing varieties suggest these plants may leverage symbiotic relationships to cope with water limitation. This study underscores the importance of plant-microbe interactions in supporting cotton plant health, particularly in high-performing plants, and highlights the potential for leveraging these relationships to improve crop resilience in water-limited environments.

Rodrigo’s Seminar Title: What can canopy temperature reveal about the physiological processes occurring inside cotton plants?

Abstract: Evaluating cotton genotypic responses to adverse impacts of climate change, such as high heat and water-limiting conditions, is essential for improving plant resilience. Some physiological measurements of plants, such as canopy temperature (TC), stem water potential (Ψstem), transpiration (E), and stomatal conductance (gs), can be used to evaluate crop water stress. The integration of novel sensing technologies enables high throughput monitoring of crop water status via continuous measurements. In this research, we validated the novel sensing device GoField by Goanna Ag, which continuously measures TC, in a field experiment in the Arizona low desert. We measured four genotypes in 2023 and five in 2024 across well-watered and water-limited conditions. For diurnal ground truth measurements, we used a handheld FLIR infrared camera, whose measurements had a high correlation with the continuous measurements of the GoField. For further validation of TC, we assessed the relationship of TC with Ψstem, and we found an inverse quadratic curvilinear relationship. This research demonstrates the continuous relationship of TC and Ψstem in cotton for the first time and agrees with recent studies in woody perennial species, in which we saw a similar relationship. Conjointly, we found a genotypic difference in the continuous measurements, TC and Ψstem, along with the diurnal measurements, gs and E, under high atmospheric demand for both treatments. This work revealed the success of integrating novel sensing technologies into the monitoring and understanding of crop water stress, thus reducing the need for traditional time and labor-intensive methods.


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Zhongguo Xiong
School of Plant Sciences       BIO5 Institute
BIO5                           Email: zxiong at arizona.edu<mailto:zxiong at arizona.edu>
                               Phone: (520)-621-9869
Forbes 303, P.O. box 210036    Fax: (520)-621-7186
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036          http://ag.arizona.edu/~zxiong
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