Above-Ground, Below-Ground, and Biochemical Properties of Soybeans Seedlings (Glycine max L.) under Drought Stress
Summary
Drought is one of the major obstacles to the cultivation of soybean. In the event of limited water supply, a functional root system provides biological advantages in case of drought and limited nutrient intake. It is therefore critical to understand how above-ground, belowground, and physio-biochemical drought responses relate to one another in soybean during drought. Twenty genotypes of soybeans were exposed to drought stress in randomized complete block design experiment for a period of 14 days. Measurements were made of the above-ground parameters (AGP): shoot height, leaf breadth, length and number, canopy wilting, and shoot dry weight. Measurements for below-ground parameters (BGP) were root dry weight, diameter, length and number of lateral roots. Chlorophyll a (Chlr a), Chlorophyll b (Chlr b), carotenoids, and proline concentrations were evaluated as biochemical parameters (BP). All parameters were measured and compared to find out which of the 20 genotypes of soybeans were drought-tolerant. There was a positive relationship between AGP and BGP. The Principal Component 1 (PC1), which is positively and significantly correlated with the genotypes TGm-4015, TGm-4400, TGm-951, and TGm-1326, were also positively and significantly correlated with canopy wilt, Chlr a and b, and carotenoids, as well as root length and dry weight, shoot dry weight, shoot height and high concentrations of Chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids during drought conditions. Genotypes TGm-1326, TGm-95, TGm-4414, TGm-1678, and TGm-99 had significant ABG and BGP benefits under drought, according to a principal component analysis (PCA) biplot. Therefore, soybean cultivars with advantageousn BG and BP under drought will be useful in germplasm improvement.
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