Influence of Glycine Betaine (Natural and Synthetic) on Growth, Metabolism and Yield Production of Drought-Stressed Maize (Zea mays L.) Plants

Abstract

A study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of sugar beet extract (SBE) and glycine betaine (GB) in mitigating the adverse effects of drought stress on two maize cultivars. Seeds (caryopses) of two maize cultivars, Sadaf (drought-tolerant) and Sultan (drought-sensitive) were sown in plastic pots. Plants were subjected to different (100%, 75% and 60% field capacity (FC)) water regimes. Then, different levels of SBE (3% and 4%) and GB (3.65 and 3.84 g/L) were applied as a foliar spray after 30 days of water deficit stress. Drought stress significantly decreased plant growth and yield attributes, chlorophyll pigments, while it increased relative membrane permeability (RMP), levels of osmolytes (GB and proline), malondialdehyde (MDA), total phenolics and ascorbic acid as well as the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) enzymes in both maize cultivars. Exogenous application via foliar spray with SBR or GB improved plant growth and yield attributes, chlorophyll pigments, osmolyte concentration, total phenolics, ascorbic acid and the activities of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging enzymes (SOD, POD and catalase; CAT), but reduced leaf RMP and MDA concentration. The results obtained in this study exhibit the role of foliar-applied biostimulants (natural and synthetic compounds) in enhancing the growth and yield of maize cultivars by upregulating the oxidative defense system and osmoprotectant accumulation under water deficit conditions.

The Physiological Responses of Wheat and Maize Seedlings Grown under Water Deficit Are Modulated by Pre-Application of Auxin-Type Plant Growth Regulators

“…Phenolics are part of the low-molecular antioxidant defense system implicated as an ROS scavenger [ 3 , 40 ]. In general, drought stress led to the induction of phenolic compounds [ 33 , 38 , 41 , 42 ], which is in line with our data observed for wheat. The opposite results found for maize could be related to species specific differences.…”

Effect of Drought Tolerance Inducers on Growth, Productivity and Some Chemical Properties of Cotton under Prolonging Irrigation Intervals

“…Soil water deficit during the sensitive growth, blooming, flowering, and fruiting stages, can affect plant growth and yield (Abdel-Kader et al, 2015;Eid et al, 2022). This study showed that exogenous foliar supplementation with GB, proline, and chitosan could maintain the level of cotton yield components under DIW conditions, with GB application generating the strongest enhancement effects on cotton yield components, which was consistent with previously reported trends (Bhuiyan et al, 2019;Hamani et al, 2021;Shafiq et al, 2021). In addition, exogenous GB application enhanced plant growth and yield qualities, Chls, osmolyte concentration, total phenolics, ascorbic acid, and the activities of ROS scavenging enzymes, including SOD, peroxidase, and CAT, but decreased the leaf relative membrane permeability and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration (Shafiq et al, 2021;Hamani et al, 2021).…”

“…Similarly, foliar-applied GB in rapeseed was shown to improve the chlorophyll concentration under DIW conditions . The enhanced pigment concentrations is likely due to the role of GB and proline in protecting the photosynthetic apparatus, stabilizing the Rubisco structures, as well as plant cell membranes under DIW (Hamani et al, 2021;Shafiq et al, 2021). Moreover, GB has been demonstrated to improve the efficiency of photosynthetic machinery (Hamani et al, 2021;Shafiq et al, 2021)…”

“…Increased GB might also be associated with response to stress resistance by increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), as well as decreasing cell membrane damage after arranging of lipid peroxidation and ion homeostasis (Alasvandyari et al, 2017). Exogenous GB application as foliar spray can decrease membrane permeability and enhance plant growth, yield components, phenolic content, ascorbic acid, pigments, osmolyte concentration, and the activities of ROS scavenging enzymes, including SOD, CAT, and peroxidase (Hamani et al, 2021;Shafiq et al, 2021) (Szabados & Savoure, 2010). A previous study revealed that proline is a proteinogenic α-amino acid harboring an auxiliary amine group, and with basic functions in primary metabolism.…”

Salicylic acid functionalized zein for improving plant stress resistance and as a nanopesticide carrier with enhanced anti-photolysis ability

“…The POD activities of 1–5 in Group A were similar to that of CK 2 , which showed that the POD activity of cucumber under salt stress did not increase due to AM-zein. The decrease in POD activity resulted in a large number of ROS, which could not be timely decomposed [ 52 ]. A large number of ROS attacked the lipid membrane of cucumber cells, resulting in a large amount of material flow from the cells and the cucumber cell growth was adversely affected.…”