Chemical control of stomatal movements

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Abstract
Artificially induced partial closure of stomata can improve the efficiency with which plants use available water; in other words, there is a fall in the transpiration: photosynthesis ratio. The careful use of some metabolic inhibitors can achieve the required inhibition of stomatal opening, but properly controlled application under field conditions is difficult and metabolic inhibition of photosynthesis in the mesophyll can occur. In the search for a more specific inhibitor of the activities of stomatal guard cells, most attention has been focused on abscisic acid, a hormone which appears to function as an endogenous regulator of stomatal opening. External application of abscisic acid achieves a useful reduction in the transpiration: photosynthesis ratio. Studies are being made of the effects of chemical analogues of abscisic acid in the search for more active compounds. Another naturally occurring substance which induces stomata to close, all-trans-farnesol, has been found in water-stressed sorghum plants. Sorghum is better able to tolerate water shortage than most crops, and further studies of its physiological mechanisms should lead to a better understanding of how we can provide protection for more susceptible crops.

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