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Brassinosteroids improve photosystem II efficiency, gas exchange, antioxidant enzymes and growth of cowpea plants exposed to water deficit

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Abstract

Water deficit is considered the main abiotic stress that limits agricultural production worldwide. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are natural substances that play roles in plant tolerance against abiotic stresses, including water deficit. This research aims to determine whether BRs can mitigate the negative effects caused by water deficiency, revealing how BRs act and their possible contribution to increased tolerance of cowpea plants to water deficit. The experiment was a factorial design with the factors completely randomised, with two water conditions (control and water deficit) and three levels of brassinosteroids (0, 50 and 100 nM 24-epibrassinolide; EBR is an active BRs). Plants sprayed with 100 nM EBR under the water deficit presented significant increases in ΦPSII, qP and ETR compared with plants subjected to the water deficit without EBR. With respect to gas exchange, P N, E and g s exhibited significant reductions after water deficit, but application of 100 nM EBR caused increases in these variables of 96, 24 and 33%, respectively, compared to the water deficit + 0 nM EBR treatment. To antioxidant enzymes, EBR resulted in increases in SOD, CAT, APX and POX, indicating that EBR acts on the antioxidant system, reducing cell damage. The water deficit caused significant reductions in Chl a, Chl b and total Chl, while plants sprayed with 100 nM EBR showed significant increases of 26, 58 and 33% in Chl a, Chl b and total Chl, respectively. This study revealed that EBR improves photosystem II efficiency, inducing increases in ΦPSII, qP and ETR. This substance also mitigated the negative effects on gas exchange and growth induced by the water deficit. Increases in SOD, CAT, APX and POX of plants treated with EBR indicate that this steroid clearly increased the tolerance to the water deficit, reducing reactive oxygen species, cell damage, and maintaining the photosynthetic pigments. Additionally, 100 nM EBR resulted in a better dose–response of cowpea plants exposed to the water deficit.

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Abbreviations

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

BRs:

Brassinosteroids

Car:

Carotenoids

CAT:

Catalase

Chl a :

Chlorophyll a

Chl b :

Chlorophyll b

C i :

Intercellular CO2 concentration

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

E :

Transpiration rate

EBR:

24-epibrassinolide

EL:

Electrolyte leakage

ETR:

Electron transport rate

ETR/P N :

Ratio between the electron transport rate and net photosynthetic rate

EXC:

Relative energy excess at the PSII level

F0 :

Minimal fluorescence yield of the dark-adapted state

Fm :

Maximal fluorescence yield of the dark-adapted state

Fv :

Variable fluorescence

Fv/Fm :

Maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry

g s :

Stomatal conductance

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

LDM:

Leaf dry matter

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NPQ:

Nonphotochemical quenching

O2 :

Superoxide

P N :

Net photosynthetic rate

P N/C i :

Instantaneous carboxylation efficiency

POX:

Peroxidase

PSII:

Photosystem II

qP :

Photochemical quenching coefficient

RDM:

Root dry matter

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RUBISCO:

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

SDM:

Stem dry matter

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

TDM:

Total dry matter

Total Chl:

Total chrolophyllchlorophyll

WUE:

Water-use efficiency

ΦPSII :

Effective quantum yield of PSII photochemistry

Ψw :

Leaf water potential

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by Fundação Amazônia de Amparo a Estudos e Pesquisas (FAPESPA/Brazil), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq/Brazil) and Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (UFRA/Brazil), awarded to A. K. S. Lobato. While J. V. Lima was supported by a graduate scholarship from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES/Brazil).

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  1. Núcleo de Pesquisa Vegetal Básica e Aplicada, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Rodovia PA 256, Paragominas, Pará, Brazil

    J. V. Lima & A. K. S. Lobato

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Lima, J.V., Lobato, A.K.S. Brassinosteroids improve photosystem II efficiency, gas exchange, antioxidant enzymes and growth of cowpea plants exposed to water deficit. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 23, 59–72 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-016-0410-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-016-0410-y

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