PJB-2021-510
GR24 ALLEVIATES DROUGHT STRESS BY MODULATING MORPHO-BIOCHEMICAL AND YIELD CHARACTERISTICS IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) HYBRIDS
Muhammad Luqman
Abstract
Strigolactones are newly discovered class of phytohormones which imparts many morphological, biochemical and physiological roles in plants. A pot experiment was planned to investigate the effects of GR24 as pre-sowing seed treatment on two maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids i.e. HY1898 and FSH1046 under drought stress. Two levels of drought, control (normal watering) and 60% FC (field capacity) were maintained. For pre-sowing seed treatment, seeds of two hybrids were soaked in different concentrations of synthetic analogue of strigolactones (GR24) i.e. water soaked, 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 mg L-1 for 16 h. Morphological data of both hybrids revealed that seeds primed with GR24 improved the shoot fresh and dry weights and shoot length under drought stress while total leaf area remained unchanged. Antioxidants performance of CAT, POD and SOD were also enhanced with the seed priming with GR24 while total soluble protein did not show significant results. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) contents were increased while considerably reduction in MDA continents were observed in both hybrids of maize under drought stress. Cob length decreased irrespective to 100 seeds weight which significantly increased under drought stress in both hybrids.
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