Leaf relative water content (LRWC)
Two leaves were collected from the young fully expanded leaves of three
plants per replicate. Individual leaves were first detached from the stem and
then weighed to determine fresh weight (FW). In order to determine turgid
weight (TW), leaves were floated in distilled water inside a closed petri
dish. Leaf samples were weighed periodically, after gently wiping the water
from the leaf surface with the tissue paper until a steady state achieved. At
the end of the imbibition period, leaf samples were placed in a pre-heated
oven at 80 oC for 48 h, in order to determine dry weight (DW). Values of
FW, TW and DW were used to calculate LRWC using the equation below
(Kaya et al., 2003):
LRWC (%)=[(FW - DW)/(TW - DW)]×100