Swards of cocksfoot (cvs KM2, Lutetia) and perennial ryegrass (cvs Aurora, Vigor) were grown under full irrigation or severe (80 d) drought in a field experiment in the South of France. Responses of the bases of immature leaves plus enclosed tissues were made during the drought period and after rewatering.

By the end of the drought, water content had fallen from 3·0 to 0·8 gwater g−1dm, and osmotic potential from −1·0 to −4·5 MPa in all cvs. Measured minerals and water-soluble carbohydrates contributed, respectively, c 19 and 44% to osmotic potential in droughted leaf bases. The drought-sensitive cocksfoot cv. Lutetia was characterized by a large proportion of fructans having a low degree of polymerization (DP=3, 4). As drought progressed, accumulation of dehydrin transcripts and ABA were higher in leaf bases of the sensitive cv. Lutetia than in the resistant cv. KM2.

After rewatering, the water status of immature leaf bases returned to control levels in 1–2 d, and then increased further as leaves began to grow and new tissue was produced. High-DP-fructans remained unchanged in leaf bases of ‘Lutetia’ but were depleted by over 55%, and therefore remobilized, in leaf bases of other cvs after 8 d.

It is concluded that enclosed immature leaf bases survive drought by tolerating a low water status and that changes conventionally associated with desiccation tolerance are expressed most strongly in susceptible plants least able to maintain their water supply.