Chitosan application for maintaining the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) under drought condition

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the most common abiotic stress in agriculture. The use of antitranspirant agents to reduce the effect of drought stress on crops has been considered as a potential method. The application of chitosan as an antitranspirant agent has been reported to be effective in several crops. This study was aimed to analyze the effect of chitosan foliar application for maintaining the growth of lettuce under drought conditions. Three concentrations of chitosan (0.2 g/L; 0.4 g/L; 0.6 g/L) were tested in this study. The parameter observed were the height of the lettuce, number of leaves, leaf length and the width, root length, as well as fresh and dry weight. The drought condition without chitosan application reduced the growth of lettuce in all parameters. Chitosan application at 0.2 g/L was able to reduce the effect of drought stress and maintain the growth of lettuce. However, higher chitosan concentration applications (0.4 g/L and 0.6 g/L) were observed to reduce the growth of lettuce. Based on this study, chitosan was reported to reduce the effect of drought stress in lettuce. As chitosan affects the transpiration process by stomatal closure, a higher concentration of chitosan may also affect the photosynthesis process leading to growth inhibition.