Abscisic Acid (ABA) mitigates drought stress in sunflower by enhancing water relations and osmotic adjustments
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Drought stress significantly alters plant growth by disturbing plant water relations.Production and accumulation of compatible solutes improve plant water relations and help the plants to survive under water-limited conditions.Abscisic acid (ABA) could ameliorate the negative consequences of drought stress.Therefore, this two-year field study was conducted to infer the role ABA application (0, 5 and 10 µM) at bud initiation (BBCH-51) and flower initiation (BBCH-55) in improving plant growth under water deficiency imposed at various growth stages.Drought stress was imposed at BBCH-51 and BBCH-55 by skipping irrigation, whereas a well-watered treatment was also included for comparison.The water relations, accumulation of compatible solutes and achene yield were significantly reduced by drought stress imposed at BBCH-51 and BBCH-55.The negative impacts of drought stress were more prominent at BBCH-55 than BBCH-51.Hence, BBCH-55 proved more sensitive growth stage to drought stress than BBCH-51.The ABA application under stress-free conditions significantly reduced achene yield, with more reduction with higher ABA level.The ABA application of 5 µM either at BBCH-51 or BBCH-55 improved plant water relations, accumulation of compatible solutes and achene yield under drought stress whereas 10 µM ABA application was less effective.Therefore, it is recommended that 5 µM ABA application could ameliorate the negative impact of water deficit stress at BBCH-51 and BBCH-55 in sunflower.
Source: Pure and Applied Biology
Author: Safdar Hussain
Institution: Ghazi University
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $200
OpenAlex ID: W3088639977