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Influence of Exogenous Glycine Betaine and Abscisic Acid on Papaya in Responses to Water-deficit Stress

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Abstract

The effects of exogenous foliar glycine betaine (GB) and abscisic acid (ABA) on papaya responses to water stress were investigated under distinct water regimes. Papaya seedlings (Carica papaya L. cultivar “BH-65”) were pretreated with GB or ABA and subsequently subjected to consecutive periods of drought, rehydration, and a second period of drought conditions. Results indicated that water stress induced ABA, jasmonic acid (JA), and proline accumulation but did not modify malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. In addition, water deprivation reduced photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, relative water content (RWC), leaf fresh weight, and increased leaf abscission. GB applied prior to drought imposition decreased the impact of water stress on ABA, JA, proline accumulation, leaf water status, growth, and photosynthetic performance. However, ABA-pretreated plants did not show alteration of most of these parameters under water stress conditions when compared with non-pretreated plants except a clear induction of JA accumulation. Taken together, the data suggest that GB may modulate ABA, JA, and proline accumulation through the control of stomatal movement and the high availability of compatible solutes, leading to improvement of leaf water status, growth, and photosynthetic machinery function. In contrast, exogenous ABA did not stimulate papaya physiological responses under drought, but interestingly ABA in combination with drought could induce progressive JA synthesis, unlike drought alone, which induces a transitory JA increase and may trigger endogenous ABA accumulation. The data also suggest that irrespective of the pretreatments, papaya did not suffer oxidative damage.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias through grant RTA09-159. HPLC-MS equipment used for hormonal analyses was facilitated by the SCIC of the Universitat Jaume I.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Suelos y Riegos, Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias, Apdo. 60, 38200, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

    Jalel Mahouachi

  2. Departament de Ciències Agràries i del Medi Natural, Universitat Jaume I, Campus Riu Sec, 12071, Castelló de la Plana, Spain

    Rosa Argamasilla & Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas

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  1. Jalel Mahouachi
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  2. Rosa Argamasilla
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Correspondence to Jalel Mahouachi.

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Mahouachi, J., Argamasilla, R. & Gómez-Cadenas, A. Influence of Exogenous Glycine Betaine and Abscisic Acid on Papaya in Responses to Water-deficit Stress. J Plant Growth Regul 31, 1–10 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-011-9214-z

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