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Abstract

Climate change has increased the intensity and frequency of drought stress (DS), which has become a significant challenge to agricultural output and plant survival in the world. Exogenous application of jasmonic acid has been of particular interest among emerging mitigation measures due to its impact on physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses under conditions of water-deficit. Mung bean crop tested on three soil water regimes viz., DS0 = 100% field capacity (well-watered condition), DS1 = 50% field capacity (moderate drought) and DS2 = 25% field capacity (severe drought). Moreover, four jasmonic acid (JA) concentrations were applied viz., JA0 = 0 µM (control), JA1 = 50 µM, JA2 = 100 µM, JA3 = 150 µM and JA4 = 200 µM. It was observed that DS3 with JA0 statistically (P≤0.05) reduced leaf area (69.63%), plant height (70.62%), number pods per plant (48%), total grain yield (53.26%), membrane stability index (85.89%), transpiration rate (63.60%), stomatal conductance (95%), photosynthesis rate (57.04%), chlorophyll a (62.94%), chlorophyll b (96.92%) and carotenoids (98.14%) compared to DS0 with JA4. Conversely, it significant (P≤0.05) increased of water uptake capacity (89.68%), water potential (84.84%), osmotic potential (48.29%), electrolyte leakage (75.34%), internal CO2 concentration (60.48%), free proline content (68.19%), glycinebetaine (81.36%), malondialdehyde (73.83%), peroxidase (53.33%), superoxide dismutase (31.15%), catalase (43.13%), hydrogen peroxide (55.70%) and superoxide radicals (95.31%) compared to DS0 with JA4 treatment. However, our findings demonstrated that the foliar applications JA4 under DS0 considerably (P≤0.05) enhanced yield, improved plant-water relations, gaseous exchange characteristics and stabilized photosynthetic pigments while significantly (P≤0.05) modulating osmolyte accumulation and lowering ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. The finding of the present study will help the farming community to mitigated the DS in the climate changing scenario.

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