Abstract
BackgroundPotato (Solanum tuberosum L.), the world’s third most important crop, is frequently thought to be sensitive to moderately sensitive to drought, and yield has fallen considerably over consecutive stress periods. Drought produces a wide range of responses in potato, from physiological alterations to variations in growth rates and yield. Knowledge about these responses is essential for getting a full understanding of drought-tolerance mechanism in potato plants which will help in the identification of drought-tolerant cultivars.ResultsA set of 21 commercial potato cultivars representing the genetic diversity in the Middle East countries market were screened for drought tolerance by measuring morpho-physiological traits and tuber production under in vitro and field trials. Cultivars were exposed to drought stress ranging from no drought to 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mol L−1 sorbitol in in vitro-based screening and 60, 40 and 20% soil moisture content in field-based screening. Drought stress adversely affected plant growth, yield and cultivars differed for their responses. Shoots and roots fresh weights, root length, surface area of root, no. of roots, no. of leaves, leaf area, plant water content %, K+ content, under in vitro drought treatments and shoots fresh and dry weights, no. of tubers and tuber yield under field drought treatments were examined and all decreased due to drought. The stress tolerance index decreased with increasing drought in examined cultivars; nevertheless, it revealed a degree of tolerance in some of them. Grouping cultivars by cluster analysis for response to drought resulted in: (i) a tolerant group of five cultivars, (ii) a moderately tolerant group of 11 cultivars, and (iii) a sensitive group of five cultivars. Furthermore, stress-related genes, i.e., DRO, ERECTA, ERF, DREB and StMYB were up-regulated in the five cultivars of the tolerant group. Likewise, the stomatal conductance and transpiration explained high correlation with the tuber yield in this group of cultivars.ConclusionThe diversity in germplasm indicated that potato cultivars can be developed for production under certain degrees of drought. Some cultivars are good candidates to be included in drought-tolerant breeding programs and recommended for cultivation in drought-stricken regions.Graphical
Highlights
Plants are subjected to a wide range of stressors as a result of their environment
The detailed objectives of this study are to understand (1) the extent of genetic variability for drought tolerance among potato cultivars using in vitro studies; (2) the stability of drought tolerance of potato cultivars under field conditions; (3) the regulation of some drought-related genes and transcription factors that contribute to plant response to drought, and (4) the correlation between physiological traits and tuber production under drought stress
Drought stress induced by various concentrations of sorbitol (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 mol L−1) in vitro and different regimes of soil moisture content (60, 40, and 20%) under field conditions exhibited fairly comparable impacts on the parameters studied
Summary
Plants are subjected to a wide range of stressors as a result of their environment. Abiotic stress is one of the most serious and prevalent agricultural problems, resulting in considerable crop yield losses and jeopardizing long-term crop production [1,2,3,4]. Cultivated potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are sensitive to moderately sensitive to drought, depending on the criteria used for classification [6, 7]. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), the world’s third most important crop, is frequently thought to be sensitive to moderately sensitive to drought, and yield has fallen considerably over consecutive stress periods. Drought produces a wide range of responses in potato, from physiological alterations to variations in growth rates and yield. Knowledge about these responses is essential for getting a full understanding of drought-tolerance mechanism in potato plants which will help in the identification of drought-tolerant cultivars
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