Article abstract

Journal of Agricultural and Crop Research

Research Article | Published May 2020 | Volume 8, Issue 5 pp. 98-112.

doi: https://doi.org/10.33495/jacr_v8i5.20.129

 

Physiological responses of sweet potato seedlings under drought-stress conditions with selenium applications

 



 

 

Chongping Huang1, 2*

Mingyan Yu1

Li Sun1

Nannan Qin1

Lai Wei1

 

Email Author
Tel: +86-571-8820-8490.

 

1. Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, 866 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China.

2. Agricultural Experiment Station of Zhejiang University, 866 Yu-Hang-Tang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China.


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Citation: Huang C, Yu M, Sun L, Qin N, Wei L (2020). Physiological responses of sweet potato seedlings under drought-stress conditions with selenium applications. J. Agric. Crop Res. 8(5):98-112.

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 Abstract 


Drought often occurs during sweet potato growth and development, and selenium (Se) has beneficial roles in alleviating biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we investigated the changes in antioxidative enzyme activities in leaves and fibrous roots, photosynthetic rates and chlorophyll fluorescence levels in seedlings of two sweet potato cultivars ‘Xinxiang’ and ‘Zheshu 77’ under drought conditions after Se applications. Drought stress significantly changed the photochemical parameters and decreased the photosynthetic capability, as well as leaf and root antioxidant enzyme activities, in both cultivars. The Se applications reversed the negative effects of drought stress. Furthermore, applications of appropriate Se concentrations (0.5 to 1.0 mg·L−1) significantly decreased the malondialdehyde level, while increasing the superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in leaves and fibrous roots. The leaf relative water contents and the root vigor levels in the drought-stressed plants of both cultivars also significantly increased. The visual chlorophyll fluorescence images provided corroborating evidence. Thus, Se appears to enhance gas exchange, improve the leaf water status and alleviate drought-induced oxidative stress by regulating the sweet potato seedlings’ antioxidant defense systems in the chloroplasts and root cells. Thus, roots and leaves may simultaneously contribute to the increased photochemical efficiency of Photosystem II, which allows higher photosynthetic rates to be maintained. In addition, the chlorophyll fluorescence images can increase our understanding of the ameliorative mechanisms.

Keywords  Sweet potato    drought stress    photosynthetic parameters   chlorophyll fluorescence visualization    antioxidant enzymes   root vigor  

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

 

 

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