Int J Mol Sci. 2015 May 5;16(5):10214-27. doi: 10.3390/ijms160510214.

Response of different genotypes of faba bean plant to drought stress.

Siddiqui MH¹, Al-Khaishany MY², Al-Qutami MA³, Al-Whaibi MH⁴, Grover A⁵, Ali HM⁶, Al-Wahibi MS⁷, Bukhari NA⁸.

Author information

1: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. manzerhs@yahoo.co.in.
2: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. muthr20@gmail.com.
3: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. maqutami@gmail.com.
4: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. mwhaibi@ksu.edu.sa.
5: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi 110021, India. anil.anilgrover@gmail.com.
6: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. hayhassan@ksu.edu.sa.
7: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. malwhibi@ksu.edu.sa.
8: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 2455, Saudi Arabia. najatab@ksu.edu.sa.

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that are a threat to crop production worldwide. Drought stress impairs the plants growth and yield. Therefore, the aim of the present experiment was to select the tolerant genotype/s on the basis of moprpho-physiological and biochemical characteristics of 10 Vicia faba genotypes (Zafar 1, Zafar 2, Shebam, Makamora, Espan, Giza Blanka, Giza 3, C4, C5 and G853) under drought stress. We studied the effect of different levels of drought stress i.e., (i) normal irrigation (ii) mild stress (iii) moderate stress, and (iv) severe stress on plant height (PH) plant-1, fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) plant-1, area leaf-1, leaf relative water content (RWC), proline (Pro) content, total chlorophyll (Total Chl) content, electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content, and activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) of genotypes of faba bean. Drought stress reduced all growth parameters and Total Chl content of all genotypes. However, the deteriorating effect of drought stress on the growth performance of genotypes "C5" and "Zafar 1" were relatively low due to its better antioxidant enzymes activities (CAT, POD and SOD), and accumulation of Pro and Total Chl, and leaf RWC. In the study, genotype "C5" and "Zafar 1" were found to be relatively tolerant to drought stress and genotypes "G853" and "C4" were sensitive to drought stress.