Morphological and biochemical responses of Balanites aegyptiaca to drought stress and recovery are provenance‐dependent

Abstract

Balanites aegyptiaca is a drought‐tolerant tree naturally distributed in Africa and has a high potential for biofuel production and livelihood. To understand the plant tolerance to drought stress, B. aegyptiaca plants collected from five provenances were subjected for 4 weeks to drought stress through different regimes of soil volumetric water content (VWC, i.e. 25% control, 15% as moderate and 5% as a severe drought stress) followed by 2‐week recovery. Morpho‐physiological responses as well as the changes in antioxidant defences under water stress and recovery were investigated. Drought stress significantly reduced plant biomass‐related parameters, stomatal conductance, quantum efficiency and increased leaf temperature. Each provenance showed specific patterns of stress response reactions that were detected in a cluster analysis. The large leaf area and a high level of lipid peroxidation in Cairo provenance increased its sensitivity to severe drought. For provenances El‐Kharga and Yemen, the highest tocopherol contents and the highest catalytic activities of ascorbate peroxidase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR) and dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) were recorded. These traits contributed to the high drought tolerance of these two provenances in comparison with the other provenances. All plants recovered from stress and showed specifically increased activity of glutathione‐S‐transferase (GST) as a repair mechanism. Results showed that the drought tolerance level in B. aegyptiaca is provenance‐dependent.

Physiological responses of black locust‐rhizobia symbiosis to water stress

“…Lower MDA contents in leaves reflect lower oxidative damage of membranes by ROS. In our experiments, the MDA content in DB plants was significantly higher than that in GS plants, this observation is consistent with previous reports that drought-tolerant cultivars contain less MDA than drought-susceptible cultivars (Khamis et al, 2019;Pourghayoumi et al, 2017;Sofo et al, 2004). In summary, the present results on foliar traits indicate that GS plants are more droughttolerant than DB plants, which is in line with hypothesis (3).…”

Provenance effect on bioactive phytochemicals and nutritional and health benefits of the desert date Balanites aegyptiaca

“…In this context, Khamis et al (2017) noted that, there were a genetic variation and high percentage of polymorphism among various B. aegyptiaca collected from 12 provenances. Moreover, in previous experiments the five provenances under investigation showed changes in some physiological parameters such as accumulation of antioxidants, and these variations were provenance‐dependent (Khamis et al, 2019). Similarly, B. aegyptiaca genotypes collected from different ecological origins showed high variability in the expression of peroxidase isozymes (Chamberlain, 1992).…”

“…Moreover, Khamis, Schaarschmidt, and Papenbrock (2017) reported a high percentage of polymorphism and genetic variation among B. aegyptiaca collected from 12 provenances. In a previous experiment under drought conditions, B. aegyptiaca sources showed significant differences in several physiological parameters such as antioxidants accumulation and, remarkably, the drought tolerance was provenance‐dependent (Khamis et al, 2019). However, the effect of ecological origin on the nutritional values and biological activities of B. aegyptiaca genotypes is rarely investigated.…”

Effect of Laser Light on Growth, Physiology, Accumulation of Phytochemicals, and Biological Activities of Sprouts of Three Brassica Cultivars

“…The levels of phenolic compounds were extracted in HPLC grade methanol l and measured (Shimadzu HPLC system,SCL-10 AVP, Tokyo, Japan) through their separation on a column (a Lichrosorb Si-60, 7 μm, 3 mm × 150 mm) and detected by a diode array detector (SPDM10AVP). 31 Samples were eluted by water/formic acid (90:10, v/v) and acetonitrile/water/formic acid (85:10:5, v/v/v), and the flow rate was 0.8 mL/min. We used baicalein (100 μg/mL) as an internal standard, and the phenolic concentrations of compounds were determined by using a corresponding standard.…”