Little is known about the role of light intensity in modulating plant responses to stress due to water deficit (WD). Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the WD and contrasting irradiance effects on the physiology, anatomy, and grain yield of soybean plants. The experimental design was a randomized block in a growth chamber and a 2 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement: 90% (well-watered, WW) and 40% (WD) of soil field capacities (FC); and 750 (medium irradiance, MI) and 1500 (higher irradiance, HI) μmol (photons) m-2 s-1 irradiance. The WD caused a lower photosynthetic rate - as well as observed in the light curve and in the relative parameters, such as apparent quantum efficiency -, less investment in shoot biomass and pollen grain germination, resulting in lower grain yield. However, there was an increase in non-photochemical energy dissipation, a higher concentration of total soluble sugars, proline, and malondialdehyde. The WD + MI-soybean plants developed thicker spongy parenchyma (related to higher mesophilic conductance of CO2 ). In the WW + HI condition the palisade parenchyma was thicker, conferring maintenance of photosynthetic efficiency. In addition, there was an increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase antioxidant enzymes in leaves due to HI, regardless of FC. This induced higher energy expenditure, reflected in the reduction of the number of leaf and branches, leaf area, dry mass of leaves and stem in the WW + HI. Interestingly, these strategies of osmotic adjustment, photoprotection, and antioxidant defenses act together in the WD + HI.
© 2021 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.