Adaptive responses of tomato introgression lines under water limited conditions

Plants respond to drought through a complex series of structural and functional adaptations. Upon drought stress, changes in characteristics of structural traits (e.g reduced LAI, leaf orientation, leaf rolling, leaf shedding) can have influences on water conservation strategy (e.g lower stomatal conductance). Drought induced alterations can have feedback affect on photosynthesis through regulation of light interception, but plant can also respond to declining water potential through osmotic adjustment (OA), which can allow the turgor dependent expansive growth to continue. Like most plants, tomato is sensitive to drought stress throughout the ontogeny of the plant. This project aims (1) to quantify the dynamics of structural and functional parameters of tomato introgression lines and their quantitative relationship under gradual soil drying and (2) to develop FSPM models for simulation and quantification of adaptation traits relevant for water use efficiency and dry mass production.