Journal of Stress Physiology & Biochemistry, Vol. 7, No. 4,
2011, pp. 130- 144. ISSN 1997-0838
Original Text Copyright (cc) 2011 by Kumar Patel, Hemantaranjan, Sarma and Singh
Growth and antioxidant system under drought stress in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as sustained by salicylic acid
Pradeep Kumar Patel1*, A. Hemantaranjan1, B.K. Sarma2 and Radha Singh1
1Department of Plant Physiology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University Varanasi – 221005, India.
2Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Institute of
Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University Varanasi – 221005,
India.
*E-mail: pradeepk.bhu@gmail.com
Received September 7, 2011
Drought is one of the major
factors limiting chickpea production in arid and semi arid regions.
There is meagre information available regarding genotypic variation for
drought tolerance in chickpea genotypes. Present investigation was
carried out to find out the influence of salicylic acid (SA) on drought
tolerance in four chickpea genotypes. Reduction in relative injury was
observed in plants treated with SA @1.5 mM as compared to control
seedlings. Relationship between relative water content (RWC), membrane
permeability (MP), ascorbic acid (AsA), proline, lipid peroxidation
(LPO), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), catalase (CAT),
peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase
(APX) was determined in order to find out whether these parameters can
be used as selection criteria for drought tolerance in this crop.
Results indicate wide variation in tolerance to drought stress amongst
chickpea cultivars at both the critical stages i.e. pre- and
post-anthesis. On the basis of growth and antioxidant activity better
genotypes Tyson and ICC-4958 appear to be adapted to drought stress
tolerance. Early drought stress (pre-anthesis drought) was found to be
more damaging than the late drought stress (post- anthesis drought).
Key words: antioxidant / pre- and post- anthesis / proline / relative injury / salicylic acid
