One of the most powerful tools for agricultural
productivity is understanding how plants manage with various environmental stresses using
their complicated mechanisms. I am fascinated about studying responses of plants to changing environments from cellular to whole plant level
and how these responses can be tweaked to improve plant productivity. My PhD is from the University of the South
Pacific in Fiji. I am
a passionate early career researcher from a small island country in the South Pacific region and I am
looking forward to build my research profile by sharing
my research, collaborating with and learning from other international plant scientists.
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Stomatal variation in wild noni (Morinda citrifolia):
a key adaptation in stressful habitats.
R. PRAKASH, JOKHAN A.D
School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Ocean and Natural
Sciences, The University of South Pacific, Suva, Fiji Islands
Noni plants are notable for tolerating a broad range
of environmental conditions including various types of abiotic stresses.
Information on noni’s physiological performance in wild habitats is limited.
This study investigated stomatal density and size along with
photosynthesis, transpiration,
stomatal conductance and instantaneous water use efficiency (WUEi)
in noni plants occurring naturally at the coast, at a lava field and in inland
areas in Samoa. Inland, coastal and the lava field sites differed in
physiognomic features and climatic conditions depicting stressful environments
at the coast and lava field. Findings showed that the stomatal density and size
were significantly different for plants at the three different natural habitats.
With highest stomatal density and small stomata size, plants at the coast exhibited
high WUEi. Plants at the lava field also had high WUEi
whilst having low stomata density and smaller size. Stomatal density and size eloquently
influenced gas exchange parameters at each specific location allowing noni to
thrive flawlessly in their wild habitats.