Abstract
Waterlogging is an illustrious abiotic stress and the constrictions it enforces on plant roots have negative effects on growth and development. This study was undertaken to investigate waterlogging stress tolerant potential in chilli (Capsicum annum L.) genotypes through evaluating morphological, physiological, biochemical and anatomical parameters. Thirty-five days old seedlings of 10 chilli genotypes were exposed to waterlogging stress maintaining water height 3–5 cm over the soil surface artificially for three days. This duration (36–38 DAE) was termed as waterlogging period, and subsequent withdrawal of waterlogging condition (39–45 DAE) was regarded as a recovery phase. Based on their survival performance, two tolerant genotypes viz., SRC-517 and BARI morich-2 and two susceptible genotypes viz., AHM-206 and RI-1(6) were selected for studying stress tolerance mechanism. Under waterlogging, however, both genotypes (tolerant and susceptible) exhibited reduced root shoot length, dry weight ratio, petiole weight and leaf area, and noticeable reduction regarding these parameters was observed in susceptible genotypes. Moreover, tolerant genotypes displayed a higher recovery than susceptible genotypes after removal of waterlogging stress. Lower reduction of leaf area and photosynthetic pigments as well as higher reduction of relative water content (RWC) were noticed in susceptible genotypes. Higher accumulation of proline and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) during waterlogging condition in tolerant genotypes suggested lower oxidative damage. Although both genotypes lost total soluble sugar (TSS) relative to control at waterlogging stress, better performance was recorded in tolerant genotypes. During the period after the removal of extra water, a similar genotypic response in terms of TSS gain was seen. Undoubtedly, under flooding conditions, the development of aerenchyma cells in tolerant genotypes is a means of tolerance mechanism for long-term survival. Thus, the morpho-physiological and biochemical changes help to understand the tolerance mechanism in chilli under waterlogging stress.
Highlights
Waterlogging or flooding is one of the most threatening abiotic stresses for agricultural crop production and desired yield owing to the fickle pattern of precipitation and that fascinated with extreme events of other climatic conditions
The highest seedling death percentage was recorded in the genotypes RI-1(6) (76%) and AHM-206 (75%) with least recovery rate (5% and 4%, respectively) while, the genotypes SRC-517 and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) morich-2 showed the lowest seedling death (12% and 16%, respectively) with higher recovery rate (73% and 66%, respectively)
Results depicted that the Car content was significantly affected by waterlogging stress, and the content was significantly higher in tolerant genotypes than susceptible genotypes
Summary
Waterlogging or flooding is one of the most threatening abiotic stresses for agricultural crop production and desired yield owing to the fickle pattern of precipitation and that fascinated with extreme events of other climatic conditions. The production of chilli in summer (April to September) season is 19,000 ha and 36,000 t, respectively. The area and production is 83,000 ha and 105,000 t in winter (October to March) season, respectively. Several researchers suggested the growth parameters like root-shoot length, ratio and dry weight as practical attributes at early stages in the selection of tolerant genotypes to waterlogging stress such as soybean (Kim et al, 2015), sesame (Saha et al, 2016) and tomato (Gotame, 2006). There has been limited research that has observed at chilli under waterlogging stress. The current study was carried out to examine the morphological, physiological, stomatal and biochemical response of tolerant and susceptible chilli seedlings under waterlogging stress which may help to select chilli genotype(s) with potential tolerance to waterlogging stress at the seedling stage
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