Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings
Melatonin is an important biologically active hormone that plays a vital role in plant growth and development. In particular, it has been investigated for its roles in abiotic stress management. The current experiment was carried out to investigate the protective role of melatonin in photosynthetic...
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PeerJ Inc.
2019-10-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/7793.pdf |
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| author | Shakeel Ahmad Muhammad Kamran Ruixia Ding Xiangping Meng Haiqi Wang Irshad Ahmad Shah Fahad Qingfang Han |
| author_facet | Shakeel Ahmad Muhammad Kamran Ruixia Ding Xiangping Meng Haiqi Wang Irshad Ahmad Shah Fahad Qingfang Han |
| author_sort | Shakeel Ahmad |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Melatonin is an important biologically active hormone that plays a vital role in plant growth and development. In particular, it has been investigated for its roles in abiotic stress management. The current experiment was carried out to investigate the protective role of melatonin in photosynthetic traits and the antioxidant defense system of maize seedling under drought stress. Maize seedlings were subjected to drought stress (40–45% FC) after two weeks of seedling emergence, followed by a foliar spray (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 µM) and soil drench of melatonin (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 µM). Our results indicated that drought stress negatively affected maize seedling and decreased plant growth and development, biomass accumulation, reduced chlorophyll, and carotenoid content, and significantly declined photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance. On the other hand, reactive oxygen species, soluble protein, and proline content increased under drought stress. However, the application of exogenous melatonin reduced the reactive oxygen species burst and enhanced the photosynthetic activity by protecting from damages through activation of various antioxidant enzymes under drought stress. Foliar application of 100 µM and soil drench of 50 µM melatonin was the most effective treatment concentrations under drought stress. Our current findings hereby confirmed the mitigating potential of melatonin application for drought stress by maintaining plant growth, improving the photosynthetic characteristics and activities of antioxidants enzymes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:52:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b1d9caa2b8ed4ea6a9c9fac054dc350b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:52:55Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-b1d9caa2b8ed4ea6a9c9fac054dc350b2023-12-03T01:27:07ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592019-10-017e779310.7717/peerj.7793Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlingsShakeel Ahmad0Muhammad Kamran1Ruixia Ding2Xiangping Meng3Haiqi Wang4Irshad Ahmad5Shah Fahad6Qingfang Han7College of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaCollege of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaCollege of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaCollege of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaCollege of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaCollege of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaDepartment of Agriculture, University of Swabi, Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PakistanCollege of Agronomy/Key Laboratory of Crop Physio-ecology and Tillage in Northwestern Loess Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, ChinaMelatonin is an important biologically active hormone that plays a vital role in plant growth and development. In particular, it has been investigated for its roles in abiotic stress management. The current experiment was carried out to investigate the protective role of melatonin in photosynthetic traits and the antioxidant defense system of maize seedling under drought stress. Maize seedlings were subjected to drought stress (40–45% FC) after two weeks of seedling emergence, followed by a foliar spray (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 µM) and soil drench of melatonin (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 µM). Our results indicated that drought stress negatively affected maize seedling and decreased plant growth and development, biomass accumulation, reduced chlorophyll, and carotenoid content, and significantly declined photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance. On the other hand, reactive oxygen species, soluble protein, and proline content increased under drought stress. However, the application of exogenous melatonin reduced the reactive oxygen species burst and enhanced the photosynthetic activity by protecting from damages through activation of various antioxidant enzymes under drought stress. Foliar application of 100 µM and soil drench of 50 µM melatonin was the most effective treatment concentrations under drought stress. Our current findings hereby confirmed the mitigating potential of melatonin application for drought stress by maintaining plant growth, improving the photosynthetic characteristics and activities of antioxidants enzymes.https://peerj.com/articles/7793.pdfMelatoninBiomassChlorophyllAntioxidantsPhotosynthesisDrought |
| spellingShingle | Shakeel Ahmad Muhammad Kamran Ruixia Ding Xiangping Meng Haiqi Wang Irshad Ahmad Shah Fahad Qingfang Han Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings PeerJ Melatonin Biomass Chlorophyll Antioxidants Photosynthesis Drought |
| title | Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings |
| title_full | Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings |
| title_fullStr | Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings |
| title_short | Exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth, photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings |
| title_sort | exogenous melatonin confers drought stress by promoting plant growth photosynthetic capacity and antioxidant defense system of maize seedlings |
| topic | Melatonin Biomass Chlorophyll Antioxidants Photosynthesis Drought |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/7793.pdf |
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