Bachelor Thesis

Monoterpene emissions as drought stress indicators in old and modern maize varieties

Maike Rieger (04/2021-10/2021)

Support: Anke Nölscher, Johanna Pausch

Drought stress can change the composition of VOC-emissions from plants. Monoterpenes, which are a type of VOC, are known to stabilize the thylakoid membranes and proteins in plants and therefore lead to a higher thermotolerance. The idea of measuring stress in crops by analysing the monoterpene emission rates as non-invasive marker has come up, but not a lot of researchers have tackled this opportunity yet. This Bachelor thesis wants to investigate whether monoterpenes can be used as drought stress indicators in maize. It is embedded in the RhizoTraits project which is exploring the rhizosphere traits of wheat and maize to find out, what traits lead to a higher resistance and resilience to drought.

http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/rhizotraits/?lang=en