Guwahati: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have found how plants adjust their internal water transport systems during drought, offering insights that could help develop crop varieties better equipped to withstand water shortages.
The study examined how drought-induced water stress changes the structure and functioning of the xylem, the network of microscopic tubes that transports water from a plant’s roots to its leaves.
Led by Professor Pranab Kumar Mondal of IIT Guwahati’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, the research combined experimental measurements with three-dimensional computer simulations to understand how plants regulate water movement under stress.
The researchers studied Indian mustard plants, examining changes in the dimensions, mechanical properties and elasticity of xylem walls, as well as the size of tiny openings called pits that connect neighbouring vessels.
The findings showed that during severe water shortages, the xylem tubes become narrower and the pits shrink, increasing resistance to water flow. This restricts the upward movement of water and helps reduce water loss through transpiration.
The researchers also found that water can flow sideways through the pits, helping maintain water balance within the plant and preventing the breakdown of its water transport network.
Previous computational studies often treated xylem vessels as rigid pipes, limiting their ability to capture how plants modify their internal water transport systems during drought.
The IIT Guwahati team addressed this limitation by incorporating experimentally measured structural and mechanical changes into realistic three-dimensional models.
Explaining the research, Mondal said the team used advanced imaging, microscopic force measurements and chemical tracking to map how drought affects xylem wall elasticity and fluid movement.
These measurements helped the researchers develop models showing how changes in the plant’s internal structure influence water transport.
The findings could help scientists better understand plant survival under water-scarce conditions and support the development of drought-tolerant crop varieties that use water more efficiently.
The research could also contribute to efforts to reduce crop losses during drought and maintain agricultural productivity amid changing climate conditions, although further work would be needed to translate the findings into practical agricultural applications.
The study has been published in the journal Applied Physics Reviews. The paper was co-authored by Mondal and Jinmay Kalita, a research scholar in IIT Guwahati’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with Sumit Kumar Mehta, an ANRF National Post-Doctoral Fellow who worked in the department, and Suraj Panja, an institute post-doctoral fellow at IIT Guwahati.
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