Abstract
Drought is one of the most important environmental factor limiting the growth of woody and non woody plants. In the present paper, we aimed to explore the performance of Maclura pomifera under a prolonged drought period followed by re-watering. M. pomifera plants were exposed to four different watering regimes (100%, 75%, 50% and 30% of the field capacity (FC)) for three weeks and then rewatered. The exposure to drought affected physiological, morphological and biochemical traits of M. pomifera. Leaf area, relative water content and water potential of leaf decreased in parallel with increased water deficit. Malondialdehyde content increased along with the drought stress experiment. Soluble carbohydrates (sucrose, glucose and fructose) accumulated during drought stress, but decreased after 22 days of water deficit in severe stressed plants (30% FC). Proline and mannitol, two compatible osmolytes, were higher in drought stresses plants than in control plants. Additionally the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, APX, DHAR and GR) resulted affected by drought stress. In the recovery period, the physiological parameters as well as the proline content recovered at control levels, whereas soluble sugars, mannitol and total activity of antioxidant enzymes remained slight higher than in control plants, presumably to allow plants a complete recovery after stress. Our results suggest that M. pomifera has a good adaptive response to drought stress, probably corresponded to decreasing oxidative injury by induction of the antioxidant system and accumulation of stable and protective osmolytes such as proline and mannitol at higher rates.
Highlights
Drought is one of the most important environmental factor limiting the growth of woody and non woody plants
Growth of M. pomifera under drought stress was followed by measuring leaf area (LA), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) (Tables 1 and 2)
FW decreased by about 22%, 34% and 53% (p < 0.01), DW decreased about by 21%, 32% and 49% (p < 0.01), and LA was reduced about by 16% 18% and 34% (p < 0.01), at 75%, 50% and 30% of field capacity (FC), respectively, as compared to the values measured in well-watered seedlings
Summary
Drought is one of the most important environmental factor limiting the growth of woody and non woody plants. To compensate for their sessile lifestyle, plants have evolved many acclimation and adaptation mechanisms (i.e. antioxidant defense systems and osmotic adjustment) which may enhance their capability to survive and grow during short- and long-term drought stress[11,12] The antioxidants enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and those belonging to Halliwell–Asada pathway, such glutathione reductase (GR), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) play www.nature.com/scientificreports an important role in cleansing those activated oxygen species[9]. M. pomifera has many valuable characteristics: hardiness (wind-firm and resistance to breakage), ability to withstand repeated clipping, fast growing and resistance to diseases (termites and nematode)[18,19,20] For these reasons, Osage orange is a tree that could be cultivated as a landscape plant and for afforestation. The aim of this work was to assess the response of M. pomifera plants to drought and their recovery after the stress determining the changes of water relations and stress biochemical markers, applying a randomized protocol based on the application of different levels of water shortage
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