PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SOME ANTIOXIDANTS ON MORINGA (Moringa oleifera, L.) PLANT UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

Abstract

To alleviate drought stress on moringa plant, the present study was performed aiming to test the alleviating effect of ascorbic acid, salicylic acid, humic acid ,seaweeds extract on moringa trees. Results indicated that treatments had beneficial effect manifested by maintaining yield and elevating stress-related metabolites, especially phenols , proline. Ascorbic acid , humic acid and seaweed extracts were the most effective and they are recommended to be employed to mitigate water stress on moringa trees which grow under drought stress conditions. * Mechanical analysis followed the pipette method using sodium hydroxide as a dispersing agent (Piper, 1950). Other soil chemical analysis were carried out according to Jackson (1973). RESULTS Chemical compositions 1. Photosynthetic pigments:Data in Table (2) and Fig.(1) show the effect of water stress levels, applied antioxidant, , ( ascorbic acid(AS), salicylic acid (SA) , humic acid (HA) ,seaweeds extract (SWE) )and their combination on total cholorophyll concentration of moringa leaves at vegetative growth stage .