Foliar application of melatonin induces tolerance to drought stress in Moldavian balm plants (Dracocephalum moldavica) through regulating the antioxidant system

By Rozita Kabiri, A. Hatami, H. Oloumi, M. Naghizadeh, F. Nasibi, Zahra Tahmasebi. Folia Horticulturae, 2018

103 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Melatonin, as an indoleamine molecule, regulates a wide range of physiological functions during the growth, morphogenesis and response of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this research, the effect of exogenous application of melatonin (0 (distilled water), 50, 100 and 150 µM) to the leaves of Moldavian balm plants grown under different levels of drought stress (100% (control), 80%, 60% and 40% of field water capacity) was investigated. The results indicate that plants which were treated with 100 µM melatonin showed the greatest leaf surface area, lateral branching, flower length and activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, guaiacol peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase). Foliar application of 100 µM melatonin had no significant difference in catalase activity in comparison with the control and other concentrations of melatonin under normal, moderate and severe drought stress conditions. The lowest H2O2 content and lipid peroxidation (electrolyte leakage, concentrations of malondialdehyde and other aldehydes) were obtained at the concentration of 100 µM melatonin under severe drought stress. This concentration also significantly increased the chlorophyll content and enhanced the relative water content; however, foliar application of 100 µM melatonin had no significant effect on leaf length and proline content compared with the control under normal and stress conditions. The obtained results suggested that foliar application of 100 µM melatonin was more effective than the concentrations of 50 and 150 µM melatonin in reducing the adverse effects of moderate and severe drought stress.

Subfields: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e6e89fd7726dfe46d198414f355a274828c5eb34

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Citations in the corpus

• Melatonin as Master Regulator in Plant Growth, Development and Stress Alleviator for Sustainable Agricultural Production: Current Status and Future Perspectives (2020, background): “When induction of melatonin is through the roots, it results in various optimized parameters including electrolyte leakage, chlorophyll and water content, increased photosynthetic efficiency and conductance of stomata openings [43].”