Abstract:

Responses of morphology and growth of Ligustrum lucidums were investigated to drought stress using pottedplant in Yangling, China. Two water treatments were used by artificially controlling soil moisture. One was normal water supply (70% of the maximum soil moisture), and the other was severe water deficit (30% of the maximum soil moisture). The results showed that severe water deficit significantly affected the growth rate, leaf characteristic, branching pattern, biomass and their distribution of the tree species. On severe water deficit condition, the survival ratio of the seedlings did not decrease notably. The growth of leaves area was obviously hampered on drought stress. The biomass was reduced in the drought stressed seedlings, compared with the control. The leaf dry weight decreased, whereas the stem biomass dry weight increased. The growth of branch of the seedlings was changed in response to the drought stress. Both total branch number and total branch length were decreased, and their bifurcation ratio was also decreased. The outer branches number, which is very important for photosynthesis, significantly descended with the reduced length. However, the root shoot ratio remained unchanged.

Key words: Ligustrum lucidums, morphology, growth, drought stress