Variation in yield and biochemical factors of German chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) under foliar application of osmolytes and drought stress conditions

Abstract

Introduction: Chamomile is one of the oldest and most valuable medicinal plants from the Asteraceae family. In addition to pharmaceutical uses, its essential oil is extensively used in perfumery, cosmetics, food industry and aromatherapy. This experiment was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of osmolytes foliar application on biochemical characteristics, and the yield of German chamomile under drought stress conditions. Methods: The experiment was conducted as a split plot with randomized complete block design with three replications during the 2016-2017 growing season. Three levels of irrigation, 50 (control), 100 (mild stress) and 150 mm (severe stress) evaporation from evaporation pan class A, and spraying treatments, NS (no-spraying), W (distilled water), MeJA (methyl jasmonate), SA (salicylic acid), HA (humic acid), GB (glycine betaine) and GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) were considered as the main plots and sub-plots, respectively. Results: Analyzed data indicated that proline, total soluble sugars (TSS), and essential oil yield were enhanced with the increase of drought intensity and the maximum amount was registered under severe stress, while the severe drought caused a substantial reduction in protein concentration of leaves and dried flower yield. Proline concentration of leaves significantly increased with exogenously applied spraying treatments under severe drought. All spraying treatments except GB under severe stress, caused higher TSS concentration than those subjected to mild stress. SA, HA, and GABA treated plants had significantly higher protein concentration compared to NS treatment. Plants that treated with GABA had the highest dried flower and essential oil yield. Conclusion: The present study suggests that osmolytes foliar application can ameliorate the detrimental effects of drought on chamomile plant through alteration in yield and biochemical variables.

Enhancement of Plant Growth, Chemical Composition and Secondary Metabolites of Essential Oil of Salt-Stressed Coriander (Coriandrum Sativum L.) Plants Using Selenium, Nano-Selenium, and Glycine Betaine

“…This improvement in fruit yield per plant, fruit essential oil percentage and essential oil yield of coriander plants due to glycine betaine application would be resulted from the beneficial effect of glycine betaine on growth and metabolism and its role as an osmoprotectant. These results were relatively similar to that reported by Sadaghiani et al (2019) on chamomile. Also, selenium treatment resulted in an increase in fruit yield and that might be due to its role in increasing photosynthesis rate which causes more seed growth and conservation.…”

Exogenous Glycinebetaine Mediated Tolerance Mechanism Regulates the Contrasting Responses to Drought and Flooding Stresses in Leaf Physiochemical Attributes and Growth of Maize

“…Glycinebetaine functions as an osmotic adjustment substance and plays an important role in protecting the structure and function of proteins, enzymes, and cell membranes, thus enabling the plants to defend themselves against WS-induced oxidative damage [11,58]. Limit research has provided us limiting understanding of the differential role GB plays in the defense against drought and ooding stresses, even though GB has been applied in many plants under abiotic stress [22,23,39]. Therefore, the study was carried out to focus on the role of GB in various susceptible genotypes under either drought or ooding.…”

“…To alleviate stress damage and improve stress tolerance in plants, exogenous application of growth regulators has been widely adopted [21][22][23]. Glycinebetaine (GB), as a quaternary amine compound, is an osmolyte, which mainly is distributed in chloroplasts and cytoplasm [24] The GB acts as an osmotic adjustment substance and helps in enhancing the tolerance in crops against abiotic stress by increasing the antioxidant ability and protecting the biological membranes from oxidative stress caused by excess ROS [25][26][27].…”

Improving Growth and Productivity of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Plant by Utilizing L-Tryptophan and Phenylalanine Acids under Different Potassium Fertilizer Rate

“…Plant exudates that include L-tryptophan, the precursor to IAA, are found in nature (Quiroz-Villareal et al, 2012). Previous research has demonstrated that amino acids can affect a plant's physiological activity either directly or indirectly (Sadaghiani et al, 2019).…”