Effects of Water Regime, Genotype, and Formative Stages on the Agro-Physiological Response of Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) to Drought

Abstract

Drought during the formative stages of a plant’s growth triggers a sequence of responses to maintain optimal growing conditions, but often at the expense of crop productivity. Two field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of drought on 10 high-yielding sugarcane genotypes at two formative stages (the tillering stage (TS) and stalk elongation (SS)), within 30 days after treatment imposition. The experiments followed a split-plot in a randomized complete block design with three replicates per genotype. Agro-physiological responses to drought were observed to compare the differences in the response of sugarcane during the two formative stages. Drought significantly reduced total chlorophyll content (Chl) and stomatal conductance (Gs) for both formative stages, while significantly increasing total scavenging activity (AOA) and electrolyte leakage (EC). A higher level of Chl was observed in the stalk elongation stage compared to the tillering stage; however, lower AOA coupled with higher EC in the stalk elongation stage suggests higher drought susceptibility. Pearson's correlation analysis revealed a stronger correlation between plant height, internode length, Chl, AOA, EC, and Gs at the tillering stage relative to the stalk elongation stage. Moreover, results from the multivariate analysis indicate the different contribution values of each parameter, supplementing the hypothesized difference in response between the two formative stages. Multivariate analysis clustered the 10 genotypes into groups based on the traits evaluated, suggesting the ability of these traits to detect differences in a sample population. The observed relationship among traits during the two formative stages of sugarcane will be significant in screening and identifying drought-susceptible and drought-tolerant genotypes for variety development studies.

Physiological and Agronomic Traits of Certain Sugarcane Genotypes Grown under Field Conditions as Influenced by Early Drought Stress

“…Cell membrane injury is induced; therefore, electrolyte and ions can diffuse [30,35,36]. In the previous studies, the increase in the electrolyte leakage in sensitive sugarcane under drought conditions was reported by Sudhakar et al [37] and Reyes et al [38]. Under 1 2 FC conditions, the highest and lowest values were found in LK92-11 and Q117, respectively.…”

Delineation of genotype × environment interaction for identification of stable genotypes for tillering phase drought stress tolerance in sugarcane

“…The tillering phase is the most sensitive stage for moisture stress in sugarcane 9 – 14 , causing significant reduction in cane yield upto 49% through the reduction in its attributing traits such as shortening of internodes (45.76%), reduction in stalk length (45.76%), cane weight (25.5%) and the number of millable cane (22.8%) 15 , 16 . Development of climate resilient varieties are essentially required for effective mitigation of drought stress and for sustainable sugarcane agriculture in drought prone area 17 .…”

Leaf Soluble Sugars and Free Amino Acids as Important Components of Abscisic Acid—Mediated Drought Response in Tomato

“…Drought is one of the major abiotic environmental factors that, in combination with high insolation and high temperatures, often cause detrimental losses in crop productivity [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. In nature, plants often face a mild drought combined with other factors, thus the effect of solely water deficit is masked by the other two stresses—heat and photo-oxidation [ 4 ].…”