Effects of water deficit on shoot, root and some physiological characteristics in some greenhouse grown potato cultivars

Abstract

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of ten potato cultivars to two levels of soil water in terms of contents of total chlorophyll (Chltot), chlorophyll florescence (Fv/Fm), shoot fresh weight (SFW), shoot dry weight (SDW), root fresh weight (RFW), root dry weight (RDW), mean root length (MRL), root length density (RLD), special root length (SRL), root volume (RV), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POX) and proline content. Plants were grown under two irrigation levels (30 and 80% depletion of available soil water). Greenhouse test plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Under control level of irrigation, the maximum and the minimum shoot dry weight were achieved for cultivars Satina (12.7 g/plant) and Sante (4.7 g/plant) and root dry weight for Marfona (2.95 g/plant) and Milva (1.17 g/plant), respectively. SDW and RDW were decreased in all cultivars under 80% depletion of available soil water. Based on the biplot analysis cultivars Agria, Satina and Marfona were hence identified as preferable cultivars for 80% depletion of available soil water conditions. However, this investigate has been able to gather evidence that water deficit increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes and proline content in all tested potato cultivars. Also, our results revealed the pivotal role of proline in response of potato plants to water deficit and biomass production.