Growth, Physiological, and Biochemical Responses of Ethiopian Red Pepper (Capsicum annum L.) Cultivars to Drought Stress

Abstract

Red pepper (Capsicum annum L.) is an increasingly important economic crop in the world. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the growth, physiological, and biochemical responses of red pepper cultivars under drought stress conditions. A pot culture experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications, four treatments, and three cultivars. Totally, 36 pots and six seeds per pot were used to grow the seeds. After five weeks, the cultivars were exposed to different drought stress conditions (100% FC or control, 80% FC or low stress, 60% FC or moderate stress, and 40% FC or severe stress). All the collected data were subjected to an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Shoot length was reduced significantly ( p < 0.05 ) in the Hagerew cultivar under severe drought stress. The photosynthesis rate was reduced by 21.11% ( p < 0.05 ) in the Mitmita cultivar under severe drought stress. The highest percentage reduction of chlorophyll content (77.28%) was recorded in the Hagerew cultivar. Both Markofana and Mitmita responded to drought stress by increasing the accumulation of proline and phenolic compounds. The root-to-shoot ratio was increased significantly in both Markofana and Mitmita cultivars (27.91% and 50.92%), respectively, under drought-stress conditions. This study depicted that the cultivar Mitmita was the most drought-tolerant cultivar among the three cultivars.

Growth and morpho-physiological assessments of Indonesian red chili cultivars on early vegetative stage under water stress conditions: A comparison of waterlogging and drought

“…Sahitya et al (2019) reported that the drought-tolerant chili pepper was able to conserve water to limit the following negative effects. Plants also have adaptation mechanisms by accumulating biochemical metabolites at higher levels than normal conditions, mainly proline and total phenolic compounds (Pacheco et al, 2021;Wassie et al, 2023). Under waterlogging, biochemical characteristics such as ethylene and proline increase rapidly as an early flood signal (Sasidharan and Voesenek, 2015).…”

Physiological and Productivity Responses in Two Chili Pepper Morphotypes (Capsicum annuum L.) under Different Soil Moisture Contents

“…Some crop management alternatives are needed to produce chili peppers with lower amounts of water. Techniques such as biostimulants are used during critical phenological stages of the crop [20,21], as well as soil moisture retainers [22] and plant species tolerant to water deficits [23,24], all of which are proving to be options to mitigate water shortage, mainly with the evaluation of chili pepper cultivars and its tolerance to water stress in terms of physiology, biochemical, growth, and yield responses [25][26][27].…”