Garlic Ecotypes Utilise Different Morphological, Physiological and Biochemical Mechanisms to Cope with Drought Stress

Ivanka Habuš Jerčić; Anita Bošnjak Mihovilović; Ana Matković Stanković; Boris Lazarević; Smiljana Goreta Ban; Dean Ban; Nikola Major; Ivana Tomaz; Zrinka Banjavčić; Snježana Kereša

doi:10.3390/plants12091824

Garlic Ecotypes Utilise Different Morphological, Physiological and Biochemical Mechanisms to Cope with Drought Stress

Plants (Basel). 2023 Apr 28;12(9):1824. doi: 10.3390/plants12091824.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biometrics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
² Department of Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
³ Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Molecular Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
⁴ Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Karla Huguesa 8, 52440 Poreč, Croatia.
⁵ Department of Viticulture and Enology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.

Abstract

Drought negatively affects plants by altering morphological, physiological and metabolic processes and ultimately reducing yields. Garlic (Allium sativum L.), an important member of the Alliaceae family, is also sensitive to drought and maximizing the yield of garlic bulbs is largely dependent on water availability. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of drought stress on morphological and physiological characteristics, as well as on phenolic, sugar, inulin and free amino acid content and antioxidant activity in two Croatian garlic ecotypes, 'Istarski crveni' (IC) and Istarski bijeli (IB). Drought was induced by using polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG) solution (-0.6 MPa) starting 21 days after clove planting and lasted for 20 days. Drought reduced plant height, number of leaves and plant weight, but increased root length in both ecotypes compared to the control treatment. Among the physiological parameters, significant differences were observed between the two ecotypes studied in the spectral characteristics of the leaves, namely reflection in red, green and blue, VAL, values of the vegetation indices related to the chlorophyll content (CHI, GI), and the anthocyanin content (ARI). Ecotype IC showed higher antioxidant activity in the control treatment due to higher total phenolic content (TPC), but under drought conditions higher DPPH radical scavenging activity was determined in ecotype IB and higher values of FRAP in IC. Sucrose and glucose generally decreased under drought, while inulin increased in IB but decreased in IC. Total free amino acid content increased under drought in both ecotypes. In conclusion, drought tolerance of IB might be associated with increased accumulation of inulin and higher levels of amino acids, especially those shown to contribute to drought resistance. In IC, drought tolerance is associated with an increase in some amino acid compounds and better root growth in depth, probably due to a more efficient translocation of sucrose to the underground part of the plant.

Keywords: Allium sativum L.; antioxidant activity; drought; free amino acids; inulin; soluble sugars; spectral characteristic; total phenolic content.

Grants and funding

KK.05.1.1.02.0005./Operational Program Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020 and the European regional fund under the specific Scheme "Scheme to strengthening applied research in proposing actions for climate change adaptation"