Brassinolide alleviates the drought-induced adverse effects in barley by modulation of enzymatic antioxidants and ultrastructure

Abstract

In the present study, possible role of exogenously applied brassinolide (BL) in alleviating the detrimental effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-inducted drought stress in barley was evaluated. Barley seedlings were subjected to two PEG levels (0 and 8% w/v) for 2 weeks followed by a foliar spray of BL (0, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 µM) to assess the changes in growth, gas exchange, chlorophyll contents, antioxidant enzyme activities and ultrastructural changes. PEG-induced drought considerably inhibited the barley growth in terms of shoot and root length, shoot, root fresh and dry weights, and chlorophyll contents. Moreover, extensive decrease by PEG-induced drought in gas exchange attributes i.e. net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and intercellular CO2 were also recorded. However, exogenous application of BL remarkably improved the gas exchange attributes, chlorophyll contents and plant growth under either drought or control condition. Furthermore, foliar spray of BL decreased the production of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the leaves and roots by increasing enzymatic antioxidant activities under drought stress. The microscopic examination indicated that exogenous application of BL improved the cell structure and enabled a clean mesophyll cell having a well-developed chloroplast with thylakoid membranes of the drought stressed plants. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that exogenous application of BL could alleviate drought stress to barley by ameliorating photosynthetic parameters, improving antioxidants enzyme activities, reducing ultrastructural changes in leaf mesophyll and finally maintaining the plant growth.