Abstract
Drought is an important factor which limits growth of sugarcane. To elucidate the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of tolerance, a pot experiment was conducted at Sugarcane Research Institute, Kaiyuan, China. Two genotypes (Yuetang 93-159-sensitive and Yunzhe 05-51-tolerant), were subjected to three treatments; 70±5% (control), 50±5% (moderate drought) and 30±5% (severe drought) of soil field capacity. The results demonstrated that drought induced considerable decline in morpho-physiological, biochemical and anatomical parameters of both genotypes, with more pronounced detrimental effects on Yuetang 93–159 than on Yunzhe 05–51. Yunzhe 05–51 exhibited more tolerance by showing higher dry biomass, photosynthesis and antioxidant enzyme activities. Compared with Yuetang 93–159, Yunzhe 05–51 exhibited higher soluble sugar, soluble protein and proline contents under stress. Yunzhe 05–51 illustrated comparatively well-composed chloroplast structure under drought stress. It is concluded that the tolerance of Yunzhe 05–51 was attributed to improved antioxidant activities, osmolyte accumulation and enhanced photosynthesis. These findings may provide valuable information for future studies on molecular mechanism of tolerance.
Highlights
Sugarcane (Saccharum sp.) possesses great economic significance in the world due to its largescale applicability in sugar industry and manufacturing of ethanol an environment friendly renewable source of energy [1]
Water deficit considerably declined the number of leaves of Yuetang 93–159 in relation to the control plants, but showing a statistically non-significant difference between moderate and severe stress treatments
The results revealed that increasing drought stress escalated the relative electrolyte leakage (REL) in both sugarcane cultivars
Summary
Sugarcane (Saccharum sp.) possesses great economic significance in the world due to its largescale applicability in sugar industry and manufacturing of ethanol an environment friendly renewable source of energy [1]. Sugarcane contributes about 90% to national sugar production in China. Yunnan is one of the main sugarcane producing regions in China, which is characterized with uneven and sloping uplands with shallow plough layer and no irrigation system. Drought-induced physico-chemical changes in sugarcane [2]. In China, water deficit is the main hindrance in sugarcane production because of its largescale cultivation on upland regions, where unavailability of irrigation water is a big challenge. Especially during spring and autumn, severely impede sugarcane productivity, or even lead to no yield at all under extreme circumstances [3, 4]
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