Abstract
Drought and flooding are some of the most common stressful conditions for plants. Due to the recent climate changes, they can occur one after another. This study is focused on the effect of antagonistic abiotic stress such as drought and flooding on the different metabolites from Ocimum basilicum leaves. Six-week-old plants of Ocimum basilicum were exposed to drought or flooding stress for 15 days, followed by antagonist stress for 14 days. The assimilation rates decrease drastically for plants under consecutive stresses from 18.9 to 0.25 µmol m−2 s−1 starting at day 3 of treatment. The stomatal conductance to water vapor gs was also reduced from 86 to 29 mmol m−2 s−1. The emission of green leaf volatiles compounds increases from 0.14 to 2.48 nmol m−2 s−1, and the emission of monoterpenes increased from 2.00 to 7.37 nmol m−2 s−1. The photosynthetic pigment concentration (chlorophyll a and b, and β-carotene), the flavonoid content, and total phenolic content decrease for all stressed plants. The results obtained in this study could indicate that the water status (drought and/or flooding) directly impacts basil plants’ physiological parameters and secondary metabolites.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
This study aims to evaluate the impacts of the antagonist abiotic stress of drought−flooding on basil plants
The antagonistic effect of drought−flooding on the photosynthetic parameters of basil leaves was assessed by measuring the net assimilation rate (A) and stomatal conductance to water vapor (Figure 2)
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Basil (Ocimum basilicum), known as sweet basil, is a medicinal plant from the Lamiaceae family. Basil plants are being used in various industries, including pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food, and in religious ceremonies [1,2]. Due to its remarkable properties, i.e., antidiabetic, wound healing, antioxidant, radiation protective, immunomodulatory, antifertility, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antistress, and anticancer activities, basil could be exploited in traditional medicine [1,3,4,5]
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