Root morphological and physiological responses of Alhagi sparsifolia to drought stress in the lower reaches of the Tarim River, China

The water potential of plant tissue is a staple water physiology parameter which can reflect how drought stress influences the plant’s growth at the level of the individual organism, and how the plant responds to water deficit in arid areas (Donovan et al., 1999; Fu et al., 2006). Previous studies about Alhagi sparsifolia have also reported its physiological responses to environmental stress at different parts of arid land in China, such as Heihe River and the southern fringe of the Taklamakan Desert (Li et al., 2004; Luo et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2003). But the morphological and physiological responses of the plants to the arid environment and the relationship between them are still not yet fully understood.