Effects of field capacity based-irrigation levels on physiological and agronomic characteris-tics of medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Dep. of agronomy and plant breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan university, Zanjan. Iran

2 Dep. of agronomy and plant breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan university, Zanjan, Iran

3 Zanjan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research& Education Centre, AREEO, Zanjan, Iran.

4 Dep. of agronomy and plant breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan university, Zanjan, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Cucurbita pepo belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. Drought is one of the main abiotic stresses which is limited planting in most farming land in Iran that limits produce agriculture products. Development of crops for enhanced drought resistance, among other things, requires the knowledge of physiological mechanisms and genetic control of the contributing traits at different plant developmental stages.
Materials and Methods: For investigation the impact of duration of drought stress on several physiological parameters in four varieties of medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.), an experiment was conducted as spilt – spilt plot based on a complete randomized block design (RCBD) with three replications. The effects of water stress in five levels (S1 or control, S2 or irrigation in 75% of Field Capacity (FC), S3 or irrigation in 50% FC, S4 or irrigation in 25% FC and S5 or without irrigation (rainfed)) as main plot, four varieties that cultured in multiple points of Iran ((V1 or unknown variety from Khoy, V2 or unknown variety from Isfahan, V3 or unknown variety from Zanjan and V4 or var. Styriaca) as sub plot and during of drought stress in twelve weeks as sub subplot were considered. But for facility in analysis, only four weeks were considered.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that for almost parameters, four varieties were not showed statistically differences. Since, pumpkin is not native plant in Iran, it seems these varieties have a similar genetically origin. Our results show that with increasing watering stress, seed and fruit yield and their component were reduced. Findings indicated that Relative Water Content (RWC) decreased with drought stress increasing that was agree with previous studies. In our study, total exchange gas in all four varieties when they were imposed to drought stress were changed. One of the first responses of plants to drought is stomatal closure, restricting gas exchange between the atmosphere and the inside of the leaf. The drought stress resulted in reduction of chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids. A reason for chlorophyll content reduction is that drought stress enhances the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such asO2 − andH2O2 that can lead to lipid peroxidation and, consequently, chlorophyll degradation (Tatrai et al., 2016). Proline contents were increased under drought stress. The proline accumulation during the stress helps the plant to reduce the oxidative destruction and it is necessary to be survived under drought stress (Verbruggen and Hermans, 2008). Our study revealed that with increasing drought stress, seed protein (%) was increased. Soluble sugar with increasing drought stress was increased. Increasing of soluble sugars during stress can be attributed to the stop of growth or synthesis in these compounds from non-photosynthesis routes (Ghorbanali, 2003).
Conclusion: Results showed that in most traits such as fruit yield, RWC, photosynthesis and transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and carotenoids, under normal condition ‘Isfahan’ unknown variety, had the better status between other varieties in control condition. It might be stated that with increasing duration and levels of drought stress, due to keep photosynthetically conditions reduction in this variety in most traits was less than other varieties. Since, there were no significantly drought stress effects on varieties, thus we can say that “Isfahan” unknown variety is superior variety in the experiment and this variety has the capacity to introduced in Zanjan region.

Keywords


Abbaszadeh, B., Sharifi ashourabadi E., Lebaschi M.H., Naderi hajibagher Kandy, M. and Moghadami, F. 2008. The effect of drought stress on proline contents, soluble sugars, chlorophyll and relative water contents of balm (Melissa officinalis L.). Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 23(4): 504-513. (in Persian with summary English).
Abdalla, M., and El-Khoshiban, N. 2007. The influence of water stress on growth relative water content, photosynthetic pigments, some metabolic and hormonal contents of two Triticium aestivum cultivars. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 3: 2062–2074.
Aghai, A.H., and Ehsanzade, P. 2011. Effects of irrigation regime and nitrogen on yield and some physiological parameters in medicinal pumpkin. Journal of Iranian horticulture science, 42(3): 291-299. (In Persian)
Alexieva, V., Sergiev, I., Mapelli, S., and Karanov, E. 2001. The effect of drought and ultraviolet radiation on growth and stress markers in pea and wheat. Plant, Cell & Environment, 24: 1337–1344.
Al-Omran, A.M., Sheta, A.S., Falatah, A.M., and Al-Harbi, A.R. 2005. Effect of drip irrigation on squash (Cucurbita pepo) yield and water-use efficiency in sandy calcareous soils amended with clay deposits. Agricultural water management, 73(1):43-55.
Andres, T.C. 2003. Cucurbitaceae and home of the cucurbit network. http://www.cucurbit.org/ index. Html.
Arnon, D.I. 1994. Copper enzymes in lsolated chloroplasts, polyphenol oxidas in Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiology, 24: 1-15.
Bates, L.S., Waldren, R.O., and Treare, I.D. 1973. Rapid determination of free proline for water stress studies. Plant and Soil, 39: 205-207.
Blokhina, O., Virolainen, E. and Fagerstedt, K. V. 2003. Antioxidants, oxidative damage and oxygen deprivation stress: a review. Annals of Botany, 91: 179–194.
Blum, A., 2005. Drought resistance, water-use efficiency, and yield potentional-are they compatible, dissonant, or mutually exclusive. Australian Journal Agricultural Research, 56: 1159- 1168.
Boon Jung, H. and, Fukai, S., 1996. Effects of soil water deficit at different growth stages on rice of an International workshop at Tata, Hungary, 23- 26 August.
Cattivelli, L., Rizza, F., Badeck, F.W., Mazzucotelli, E., Mastrangelo, A.M., Francia, E., Mare, C., Tondelli, A., and Stanca, A.M. 2008. Drought tolerance improvement in crop plants: An integrative view from breeding to genomics. Field Crop. Research, 105: 1–14.
Chaves, M . 2002. water stress in the regulation of photosynthesis in the field. Annals of Botany, 89: 907- 916.
Chegah, S., Chehrazi, M., and Albaji, M. 2013. Effects of drought stress on growth and development Frankenia plant (Frankenia Leavis). Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 19: 659-665.
Davies, K.J.A. 1987. Protein damage and degradation by oxygen radicals. I. General aspects. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 262:9895–9901.
Dubois, M., Gilles, K.A., Hamilton, J.K., Rebers, P.A., and Smith, F. 1956. Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and related substances. Analytical Chemistry, 28:350-356.
Earl, H., and Davis, R.F. 2003. Effect of drought stress on leaf and whole canopy radiation use efficiency and yield of maize, Agronomy Journal, 95: 688–696.
Eftekharinasab N, Khoramivafa M, Sayyadian K and Najaphy A, 2011. Nitrogen fertilizer effect on grain yield, oil and protein content of pumpkinseed (Cucurbita pepo L. var. styriaca) intercropped with lentil and chickpea. International Journal of Agricultural Science, 1: 283-289.
Fandika, I.R., Kemp, P.D., Millner, J.P., and Horne, D.J. 2011. Yield and water use efficiency in buttercup squash (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne) and heritage pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo Linn). Australian Journal of Crop Science, 5:742-747.
Farooq, M., Mubshar, H. and Siddique, K.H.M. 2014. Drought stress in wheat during flowering and grain-filling periods. Critical Reviews in Plant Science, 33: 331–349. doi:10.1080/07352689.2014.875291
Farooq, M., Wahid, A., Kobayashi, N., Fujita, D., and Basra, S.M.A. 2009. Plant drought stress: effects, mechanisms and management. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 29:185–212.
Fruhwrith, G. and Hermetter, A. 2007. Seeds and oil of the Styrian oil pumpkin: Components and biological activities. European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 109: 1128–1140.
Ghorbanali, M., and Niakan, M. 2005. Examination of effect of drought stress on the amounts of soluble sugars, protein, Proline, phenol compounds and the activity of nitrate reductase enzyme in the soybean plant, Variety Gorgan 3. Journal of Sciences, Tarbiat Moaalem University, 5: 537-549.
Haung, B. 2001. Involvement of antioxidants and lipid peroxidantion in the adaptation two-season grasses to localized drought stress. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 45:105-114.
Heidari, N., Pouryousef, M. and Tavakoli, A. 2014. Effects of drought stress on photosynthesis, its parameters and relative water content of anise (Pimpinella anisum L.). Iranian biology journal, 27(5): 829-839. (in Persian with summary English).
Hu, Y. Y., Zhang, Y. L., Yi, X. P., Zhan, D. X., Luo, H. H., Chow, W. S. and Zhang, W. F. 2013. The relative contribution of non-foliar organs of cotton to yield and related physiological characteristics under water deficit. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 3119 (13): 60568-7.
Kazemi arbat, H. 1999. Special agronomy, First issue: cereal. Universities extension center. Tehran. Iran. (in Persian)
Kjeldahl, J. 1883.»Neue Methodezur Bestimmung des Stickstoffs in organischen Körpern” (New method for the determination of nitrogen in organic substances), Zeitschriftfüranalytische Chemie, 22: 366-383.
Lazos, E.S. 1986. Nutritional, Fatty Acid, and Oil Characteristics of Pumpkin and Melon Seeds. Journal of Food Science, 51: 1382–1383.
Loy, J.B. 2004. Morpho-physiological aspects of productivity and quality in squash and pumpkins (Cucurbita spp.). Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 23: 337–363.
Mafakheri, A., Siosemardeh, A., Bahramnejad, A., Struik, P.C., and Sohrabi, Y. 2011. Effect of drought stress and subsequent recovery on protein, carbohydrate contents, catalase and peroxidase activities in three chickpea (Cicer arietinum) cultivars. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 5 (10): 1255-1260.
Maleki Khezerlu, S., Tahmasebi Sarvestani, Z., and Modarres Sanavi, S.A.M. 2015. Assessment of quantitative and qualitative traits in the pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) under water deficit stress induction and nitrogen fertilizer. Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 31: 853-863.
Merah, O . 2001. Potential importance of water status traits for durum wheat improvement under Mediterranean conditions. Journal of Agricultural Science –Cambridge, 137: 139-145.
Mojaddam, M. 2015. Drought stress effect on physiological and yield of sunflower at different levels of nitrogen. Crop production, 121- 136. (in Persian).
Moran, J.F., Becana, M., Iturbe-Ormaetxe, I., Frechilla, S., Klucas, R.V., and Aparicio-Tejo, P. 1994. Drought induces oxidative stress in pea plants. Planta, 194: 346–352.
Nadiu, T. and Naraly, A., 2001. Screening of drought tolerance in greengram (Vina radiata L. Wilczeek) genotypes under receding soil moisture. Indian journal of plant physiology, 6(2): 197-201.
Naeemi, M., Akbari, Gh.A., Shirani rad, A.H., Hassanloo, T., and Akbari, Gh.A. 2012. Effect of zeolite application and selenium spraying on water relations traits and antioxidant enzymes in medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) under water deficit stress conditions. Journal of Crops Improvement, 14:67-81.
Nevo, E. and Chen, G.X. 2010. Drought and salt tolerances in wild relatives for wheat and barley improvement. Plant, Cell & Environment, 33:670–685. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3040.2009.02107.x
Passioura, J.B. 2012. Phenotyping for drought tolerance in grain crops: when is it useful to breeders? Functional Plant Biology, 39: 851–859. doi:10.1071/FP12079.
Plaut, Z. 2003. Plant exposure to water stress during specific growth stages. In B. A. Stewart and T. A. Howell (Eds). Encyclopedia of Water Science. Taylor & Francis, New York. 673– 675.
Praxedes, S.C., DaMatta, F.M., Loureiro, M.E.G., Ferrao, M.A., and Cordeiro, A.T. 2006. Effects of long-term soil drought on photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism in mature obusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre var. kouillou) leaves. Environment and Experiment Botany, 56: 263–273.
Rajaie, M., Tahmasebi, S., Bidadi, M .J., Zare, K. and Sarfarazi, Sh. 2015. The effect of terminal drought stress on yield and yield components of wheat genotypes. Cereal Research, 5(4): 341-352. ( in Persian with summary English).
Reddy, A. R., Chaitanya, K. V. and Vivekanandan, M. 2004. Drought induced responses of photosynthesis and antioxidant metabolism in higher plants. Journal of Plant Physiology, 161: 1189-1202.
Richards. R.A., Rebetzke, G.J., Watt, M., Condon, A.T., Spielmeyer, W. and Dolferus, R. 2010. Breeding for improved water productivity in temperate cereals: phenotyping, quantitative trait loci, markers and the selection environment. Functional Plant Biology, 37, 85–97. doi:10.1071/FP09219.
Ritchie, S.W., and Nguyen, H.T. 1990. Leaf water content and gas exchange parameters of two wheat genotypes differing in drought resistance. Crop Science, 30: 105-111.
SAS Institute. 1999. SAS/Stat User’s Guide, Version 8.0. SAS Institute, Cary, NC.
Siddique, M.R.B., Hamid, A., and Islam, M.S. 2001. Drought stress effects on water relations of wheat. Botanical Bulletin- Academia Sinica, 41: 35–39.
Slabbert, M., and Krüger, G. 2014. Antioxidant enzyme activity, proline accumulation, leaf area and cell membrane stability in water stressed Amaranthus leaves. South African Journal of Botany. 95: 123–128.
Sodaie Zadeh, H., Shamsayi, M., Tajamolian, M., Meyboodi, A. M., Hakim Zadeh. M. A. 2016. Investigation of drought stress effects on some morphological and physiological traits in Satureja hortensis. Journal of Plant Process and Function, 5 (15): 1-12.( In Persian).
Sure, S.H., Arooie, H., and Moghadam, R.D. 2011. Influence of drought stress and its interaction with salicylic acid on medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seedling growth. Botany Research Journal, 4: 35-40.
Tatrai, Z.A, Sanoubar, S., Pluhár, Z., Mancarella, S., Orsini, F. and Gianquinto, G. 2016. Morphological and Physiological Plant Responses to Drought Stress in Thymus citriodorus. International Journal of Agronomy,2016: 1-8. http:// dx.doi.org/ 10.1155 /2016/4165750
Turner, N.C., Blum, A., Cakir, M., Steduto, P., Tuberosa, R. and Young, N. 2014. Strategies to increase the yield and yield stability of crops under drought – are we making progress? Functional Plant Biology, 41: 1199–1206. doi:10.1071/FP14057.
Verbruggen, N., and Hermans, C. 2008. Proline accumulation in plants: a review. Amino Acids, 35: 753 759.
Zadeh Bagheri, M., Javanmardi, Sh., Alozadeh, O. and Kamelmanesh, M.M. 2014. Effects of drought on grain yield and some physiological characteristics of red bean genotypes. Plant ecophysiology, 6 (18): 1-11. (in Persian with summary English).
Zahed chekovary, S. and Gasemov, N. 2015. Study of some Microelements, proline and protein of Brago officilalis L. under drought stress. Crop Biotechnology, 11:65-75.
Zhu JK, 2002. Salt and drought stress signal transduction in plants. Annual Reviews Plant Biology, 53: 247-316.