| The experiment was coducted to discover the change of water potential, soluble sugar, NH4+, and amino acids in leaves of maize seedlings under alternative split-root osmotic stress. The results showed that when half roots were put into high water potential solution and another half into low water potential solution, and alternated them every 24 hours, the contents of soluble sugar, NH4+ and amino acids in the leaves were lower than that under non-split-root stress with the same concentration; the change of leaf water potential was reverse. This proved that alternative split-root osmotic stress had a compensation effect on roots, thus it improved water use efficiency. |