Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 1
Written by Giancarla VELICEVICI, Dorin CAMEN, Sorin CIULCA, Adriana CIULCA, Carmen BEINSAN, Mihaela MALAESCU, Mihaela MOATAR, Daniela POȘTA, Iuliana CREȚESCU
Drought is the most important factor affecting yield loss in global agriculture. Drought stress negatively affects the physiological, genetic, biochemical, and morphological characteristics of plants. The objective of this study was to determine whether there are differential responses to drought stress on proline and chlorophyll content in some tomato genotypes. Drought deficit was induced by polyethylene-glycol (PEG 6000) solution using a control and two variants with different osmotic pressures (-2.72 Bars, -4.48 Bars). The determination of proline and chlorophyll content was evaluated after periods of 7/14 and 21 days after the induction of drought stress. Comparing the biological material studied, it can be observed that different concentrations of PEG 6000 influenced differently the analysed genotypes. High levels of proline content during drought stress were noticed also in Pontica, Viorica, Darsirius, and Buzau 47. The chlorophyll content of the leaves decreased proportionally with drought induction. The lowest chlorophyll content was recorded (22,965 SPAD units) after a longer period of water stress. The obtained results will be useful to serve in plant breeding programs.
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