Leaf Anatomical Adaptation Under Early Drought Stress of Sugarcane Cultivars – KKU-1999-02 and KKU-1999-03

Abstract Anatomical adaptation is an important feature that allows plants to mitigate drought stress. A comparative leaf anatomy of two drought-tolerant sugarcane cultivars, KKU-1999-02 and KKU-1999-03, was studied in early drought stress between 30 and 90 days after planting using peeling and freehand sectioning methods. KKU-1999-02 and KKU-1999-03 showed different anatomical adaptation features, such as increase in cuticle thickness, bulliform cell size, vascular bundle, and stomatal density, and decreases in leaf thickness and stomatal size. KKU-1999-02 showed more remarkable anatomical changes than KKU-1999-03. The results provide important information that can be applied in combination with other agronomic traits in sugarcane breeding programs to expand the adaptation devices of tolerant cultivars under preliminary drought stress.