Open Access

ARTICLE

An in Vitro Approach to Investigate the Role of Abscisic Acid in Alleviating the Negative Effects of Chilling Stress on Banana Shoots

Ibrahim Hmmam^1,*, Ali Raza², Ivica Djalovic³, Nagwa Khedr¹, Abdou Abdellatif¹

1 Pomology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, 2613, Egypt
2 College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
3 Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Novi Sad, Serbia

* Corresponding Author: Ibrahim Hmmam. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Physiological and Molecular Interventions in Improving Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(6), 1695-1711. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2023.028317

Received 12 December 2022; Accepted 08 February 2023; Issue published 09 March 2023

Abstract

Banana is a tropical crop cultivated in warm places. Chilling stress in Egypt is making banana crops less productive. Abscisic acid (ABA), a key plant hormone, regulates metabolic and physiological processes and protects plants from a variety of stresses. In vitro growing banana shoots were pre-treated with ABA at four concentrations (0, 25, 50, and 100 mM) and chilled at 5°C for 24 h, followed by a six-day recovery period at 25°C. By comparing ABA treatments to both positive and negative controls, physiological and biochemical changes were investigated. Chilling stress (5°C) caused a considerable increase in lipid peroxidation and ion leakage and reduced photosynthetic pigments in cold-treated plantlets. Increasing the concentration of ABA to 100 µM enhanced the response to chilling stress. ABA had a major effect on mitigating chilling injury in banana shoots by keeping cell membranes stable and lowering the amount of ion leakage and lipid peroxidation. Also, ABA significantly maintained the photosynthetic pigment concentration of banana shoots; accumulated higher amounts of total soluble carbohydrates and proline; and increased DPPH radical scavenging activity. Furthermore, ABA treatment enhanced cold tolerance in chilling-stressed banana shoots through the regulation of antioxidant enzyme activity. Overall, the results show that ABA is a good choice for protecting banana shoots from the damage caused by chilling stress.

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Keywords

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