<p>Plants which experience drought learn to handle them better the next time, thanks to their memories of the event.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The new research also confirms the scientific basis for what home gardeners and nursery professionals have often learned through hard experience: Transplants do better when water is withheld for a few days to drought harden them before the move.<br /><br />"This phenomenon of drought hardening is in the common literature but not really in the academic literature," said Michael Fromm, plant scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, member of the research team.<br /><br />"The mechanisms involved in this process seem to be what we found," added Fromm, the journal Nature Communications reports.<br /><br />Working with Arabidopsis, a member of the mustard family considered an excellent model for plant research, Fromm's team, plant molecular biologist Zoya Avramova and post-doctoral fellow Yong Ding compared the reaction of plants that had been previously stressed by withholding water to those not previously stressed.<br /><br />The pre-stressed plants bounced back more quickly the next time they were dehydrated. Specifically, the non-trained plants wilted faster than trained plants and their leaves lost water at a faster rate than trained plants, according to a Nebraska statement.<br /><br />"The plants 'remember' dehydration stress. It will condition them to survive future drought stress and transplanting," Fromm said.</p>
<p>Plants which experience drought learn to handle them better the next time, thanks to their memories of the event.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The new research also confirms the scientific basis for what home gardeners and nursery professionals have often learned through hard experience: Transplants do better when water is withheld for a few days to drought harden them before the move.<br /><br />"This phenomenon of drought hardening is in the common literature but not really in the academic literature," said Michael Fromm, plant scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, member of the research team.<br /><br />"The mechanisms involved in this process seem to be what we found," added Fromm, the journal Nature Communications reports.<br /><br />Working with Arabidopsis, a member of the mustard family considered an excellent model for plant research, Fromm's team, plant molecular biologist Zoya Avramova and post-doctoral fellow Yong Ding compared the reaction of plants that had been previously stressed by withholding water to those not previously stressed.<br /><br />The pre-stressed plants bounced back more quickly the next time they were dehydrated. Specifically, the non-trained plants wilted faster than trained plants and their leaves lost water at a faster rate than trained plants, according to a Nebraska statement.<br /><br />"The plants 'remember' dehydration stress. It will condition them to survive future drought stress and transplanting," Fromm said.</p>
