Abstract
Currently, limited water supply is a major problem in many parts of the world. Grafting peppers onto adequate rootstocks is a sustainable technique used to cope with water scarcity in plants. For 1 month, this work compared grafted peppers by employing two rootstocks (H92 and H90), with different sensitivities to water stress, and ungrafted plants in biomass, photosynthesis, and antioxidant response terms to identify physiological–antioxidant pathways of water stress tolerance. Water stress significantly stunted growth in all the plant types, although tolerant grafted plants (variety grafted onto H92, Var/H92) had higher leaf area and fresh weight values. Var/H92 showed photosynthesis and stomata conductance maintenance, compared to sensitive grafted plants (Var/H90) and ungrafted plants under water stress, linked with greater instantaneous water use efficiency. The antioxidant system was effective in removing reactive oxygen species (ROS) that could damage photosynthesis; a significant positive and negative linear correlation was observed between the rate of CO2 uptake and ascorbic acid (AsA)/total AsA (AsAt) and proline, respectively. Moreover, in Var/H92 under water stress, both higher proline and ascorbate concentration were observed. Consequently, less membrane lipid peroxidation was quantified in Var/H92.
Highlights
Many crops are cultivated in areas where climate conditions are not always ideal, and precipitation may periodically go below optimal levels and lead to water scarcity [8]
The aim of the present study is to determine whether the maintenance of photosynthesis observed in the tolerant hybrid rootstock (H92) under water stress is associated with the protection of the photosynthetic apparatus, mediated by the activation of the antioxidant system components
According to Hsiao [48], the decrease in relative water content (RWC) might indicate that variety grafted onto H90 (Var/H90) and variety grafted onto H92 (Var/H92) suffered a moderate wateronto stress (WS) while Var was affected by severe WS
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Abiotic stresses pose a huge threat for crops by limiting their growth and development, which eventually leads to poor productivity and low yields [1,2,3]. One abiotic stress is water limitation, which is considered a major problem because of its high intensity and time span, and because it causes significant crop losses worldwide every year [4,5,6,7]. Many crops are cultivated in areas where climate conditions are not always ideal, and precipitation may periodically go below optimal levels and lead to water scarcity [8]
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