Abstract
Drought is the major abiotic stress limiting crop production worldwide, with drought events being expected to be harsher and more frequent due to the global warming. In this context, the development of strategies to mitigate the deleterious effects of drought, such as the use of biostimulants, is imperative. Radish is a globally cultivated root vegetable, with high nutritional and phytochemical value. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the potential of exogenous carnitine application in the mitigation of drought stress on radish morphophysiology. For this, radish plants were grown for 30 days, being irrigated with 80% (well-watered) or 15% (drought stress) of water holding capacity and sprayed with carnitine (5, 50, and 500 µM) or water (0 µM—no carnitine). The experimental design was completely randomized, in a 4 × 2 factorial scheme (carnitine concentrations × water conditions) with six replicates, and each experimental unit consisted of one plant. The gas exchanges, chlorophyll a fluorescence, photosynthetic pigments, electrolyte leakage, relative water content, and biomass production and allocation were evaluated. Drought reduced the photosynthetic capacity of plants by impairing water balance and membrane integrity, decreasing biomass accumulation, mainly in globular roots. The application of low carnitine (5 µM) mitigated these negative effects caused by drought, increasing membrane integrity and water balance of plants, while higher carnitine concentration (50 and 500 µM) aggravated drought stress. This study highlights the potential of carnitine in the mitigation of drought stress on radish plants, supporting its role as a biostimulant.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil), FAPESQ/UFPB (Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba/Universidade Federal da Paraíba), CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior), and PROPESQ/PRPG/UFPB for financial support.
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This study was funded by CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Brasília, DF, Brazil: Grant no. PQ 304214/2022-1 to DSB and PQ 307801/2021–7 to TJD), FAPESQ/UFPB (Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba/Universidade Federal da Paraíba), CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior), and the Public Call n. 03 Produtividade em Pesquisa PROPESQ/PRPG/UFPB – Grant Proposal code PVO13257-2020 to DSB).
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JMH, TJD, and DSB designed the study. JMH, EFOD, VAS, SKS, DSG, LMF, and ASL conducted the experiments and collected the data. JMH and DSB analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript with input from all authors. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Henschel, J.M., Dantas, E.F.O., de Azevedo Soares, V. et al. Drought stress mitigation by foliar application of L-carnitine and its effect on radish morphophysiology. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 29, 579–590 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-023-01308-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-023-01308-6