Table 2.

Effect of water stress and FOC infection on net photosynthetic rate (P_n, μmol CO₂ m⁻² s⁻¹), stomatal conductance (g_s, mol H₂O m⁻² s⁻¹), intercellular CO₂ concentration (C_i, μmol CO₂ mol⁻¹), transpiration rate (T_r, mmol H₂O m⁻² s⁻¹) and stomatal limitation (L_s, %) in cucumber leaves. Plants were supplied with half-strength Hoagland solution under the non-treated condition (CK), water stress was simulated by adding 2 % PEG (WS) and FOC incubation was achieved by immersing the roots in a conidial suspension (10⁷ conidia mL⁻¹) (PI). Gas exchange parameters were measured 8 d after the start of treatment

Treatment	P n	g s	C i	T r	L s
CK
Leaf centre	19·85±1·53a	0·70±0·11a	327·25±7·59a	8·33±0·68a	21·89±2·73c
Leaf edge	20·78±1·17a	0·58±0·03b	319·25±12·69a	8·11±0·40a	24·83±1·78bc
WS
Leaf centre	11·48±2·33b	0·13±0·05de	240·00±17·07b	2·92±0·95c	43·78±4·91a
Leaf edge	5·98±1·12c	0·06±0·02e	229·50±32·13b	1·30±0·31d	45·97±8·11a
PI
Leaf centre	13·90±1·90b	0·25±0·08c	301·75±24·09a	4·13±0·97b	29·88±5·31b
Leaf edge	13·00±2·40b	0·20±0·06cd	296·50±17·25a	3·64±0·78bc	32·13±3·34

Data are mean ± s.d. of four replications. Different letters in the same column indicate a significant difference (P<0·05, Duncan’s multiple range test).