Sucrose feeding
Immediately after emerging, the fifth leaf of well-watered plants and
plants subjected to mild and severe drought stress were fed with 0.3 M
sucrose solution contained in a glass vial through the cut leaf tip as
in Spoehr (1942). The treatment was initiated early in the beginning of
the night (22:00h). After the treatment and at the end of the night
(6:00 h, EN), 10 samples of 1 cm were collected along the base of the
leaf for soluble sugar concentration determination. Leaf length was
measured as described below for LER determination.