Open Access

ARTICLE

Screening and Assessment of Selected Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance at Seedling Stage

by Md. Rezwan Molla^1,2,4, Md. Motiar Rohman^2,*, Mahmuda Binte Monsur², Mirza Hasanuzzaman^3,*, Lutful Hassan⁴

1 Plant Genetic Resources Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, 1701, Bangladesh
2 Molecular Breeding Laboratory, Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, 1701, Bangladesh
3 Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh
4 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, 2202, Bangladesh

* Corresponding Authors: Md. Motiar Rohman. Email: ; Mirza Hasanuzzaman. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(5), 1425-1443. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2021.015591

Received 30 December 2020; Accepted 23 February 2021; Issue published 27 May 2021

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate oxidative stress tolerant mechanisms in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) under drought genotypes through evaluating morphological, physiological, biochemical and stomatal parameters. Twenty genotypes were evaluated for their genetic potential to drought stress tolerant at seedling stage. Thirty days old seedlings were exposed to drought stress induced by stop watering for the following 10 days and rewatering for the following one week as recovery. Based on their survival performance, two tolerant genotypes viz. BD-10906 and BD-109012 and two susceptible genotypes viz. BD-10902 and RT-20 were selected for studying the oxidative stress tolerance mechanism. Drought reduced root and shoot length, dry weight, ratio, petiole weight and leaf area in both tolerant and susceptible genotypes, and a higher reduction was observed in susceptible genotypes. Lower reduction of leaf area and photosynthetic pigments were also found in tolerant genotypes. Moreover, tolerant genotypes showed higher recovery than susceptible genotypes after the removal of stress. A higher reduction of relative water content (RWC) may cause an imbalance between absorbed and transpirated water in susceptible genotypes. Higher accumulation of proline in tolerant genotypes might be helpful to for better osmotic maintenance than that in susceptible genotypes. Tolerant genotypes showed higher antioxidant activity as they showed DPPH radical scavenging percentage than the susceptible genotypes. Moreover, closer stomata in tolerant genotypes than susceptible ones helped to avoid dehydration in tolerant genotypes. Thus, the above morphological, physiological, biochemical and stomatal parameters helped to show better tolerance in chilli under drought stress.

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