Abstract
Consequences of drought stress in crop production systems are perhaps more deleterious than other abiotic stresses under changing climatic scenarios. Regulations of physio-biochemical responses of plants under drought stress can be used as markers for drought stress tolerance in selection and breeding. The present study was conducted to appraise the performance of three different maize hybrids (Dong Dan 80, Wan Dan 13, and Run Nong 35) under well-watered, low, moderate and SD conditions maintained at 100, 80, 60, and 40% of field capacity, respectively. Compared with well-watered conditions, drought stress caused oxidative stress by excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which led to reduced growth and yield formation in all maize hybrids; nevertheless, negative effects of drought stress were more prominent in Run Nong 35. Drought-induced osmolyte accumulation and strong enzymatic and non-enzymatic defense systems prevented the severe damage in Dong Dan 80. Overall performance of all maize hybrids under drought stress was recorded as: Dong Dan 80 > Wan Dan 13 > Run Nong 35 with 6.39, 7.35, and 16.55% yield reductions. Consequently, these biochemical traits and differential physiological responses might be helpful to develop drought tolerance genotypes that can withstand water-deficit conditions with minimum yield losses.
Highlights
Drought stress imposes drastic effects on plant growth and development, agronomic traits and yield formation by altering physio-anatomical mechanisms
A decreasing trend was observed with increase in drought stress levels in all the tested hybrids, drought-induced adversities were more prominent in Run Nong 35 than those in Dong Dan 80 or Wan Dan 13 (Table 1 and 2)
When compared with well-watered control, drought stress treatments increased the values of MDA, O2−, H2O2, Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), electrolyte leakage (EL), and LOX in the range of 10–46% in Run Nong 35, 9–34% in Wan Dan 13, and 5–24% in Dong Dan 80, respectively
Summary
Drought stress imposes drastic effects on plant growth and development, agronomic traits and yield formation by altering physio-anatomical mechanisms. It disturbs plant-water relations, photosynthetic gas exchange capacities, cell turgor, source-sink relationships and various metabolic events in plants (Anjum et al, 2011b). Osmotic adjustment is an innate behavior of plants which helps them in maintaining water balance by synthesizing different osmolytes/solutes. These solutes protect cellular structures and functions as well as maintain water balance and delay dehydrative damage by maintaining cell turgor and other physiological mechanisms under water-deficit conditions (Taiz and Zeiger, 2006). Maksup et al (2014) found enhanced protein accumulation in tolerant rice cultivars under water stress conditions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
