Comparison on Drought Resistance on Anatomical Structures of Black Poplar Leaf

An anatomical comparative study was carried out on the xeromorphic structures of the leaves of six poplar clones,including three new clones(03-south1-13,03-north1-15 and 03-south4-1),I-69(P.deltoides cl.'Lux',female),Populus deltoides cl.'Nankang'(P.deltoides cl.'Lux'×P.deltoides cl.'Harvard') and Shaanxi No.3(P.deltoides cl.'Lux'×P.deltoides).Xeromorphic structure indices were measured,such as the thicknesses of leaf blade,upper and lower palisade tissue,upper and lower epidermis,leaf cuticle and so on.Capabilities of drought resistance of the selected poplar species were comprehensively evaluated by applying the method of subordinate functions of fuzzy mathematics.Relationships between anatomical indices and drought resistance were examined by grey correlative analysis.The comprehensive evaluation demonstrated that the drought resistant capability decreased in the order of 03-south4-1,03-north1-15,P.deltoides cl.'Nankang',I-69,03-south1-13,Shaanxi No.3.In the view of anatomical structure indices,03-south4-1 and 03-north1-15 were better in adapting to arid environments than 03-south1-13.The correlation degrees between the anatomical structure indices and drought resistant were in the order of the thicknesses of leaf cuticlelower palisade tissueupper palisade tissueleaf bladeupper epidermislower epidermispalisade tissue/ mesophyll tissueprincipal vain.The key indices of drought resistance in black poplar were the thicknesses of leaf cuticle,lower palisade,upper palisade tissue,leaf blade,which could be used for the evaluation of drought resistance of poplar species.