Welcome to Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin,

Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2020, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (27): 14-19.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb20200300234

Special Issue: 生物技术 玉米 农业气象

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Effects of Exogenous Melatonin on Maize Seedlings Under Drought Stress

Du Zhuo(), Hou Wen, Wang Li, Li Lin, Zhang Kai, Lu Yuncai()   

  1. College of Advanced Agriculture and Ecological Environment, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080
  • Received:2020-03-21 Revised:2020-05-16 Online:2020-09-25 Published:2020-09-23
  • Contact: Lu Yuncai E-mail:2733933152@qq.com;luyuncai@hlju.edu.cn

Abstract:

The paper aims to study the role of exogenous melatonin in enhancing the adaptability of maize seedling under drought stress and reduce the harm of drought stress to maize seedlings. The maize variety ‘Zhengdan 958’ was used as material. The artificial water regulation was used, and six treatments including CK, drought, M1, M2, M3 and M4 were designed to study the effects of exogenous melatonin on growth index, chlorophyll content, proline content and peroxidase activity of maize seedlings. The results showed that exogenous melatonin could alleviate the effect of drought stress on maize seedlings, such as plant height, leaf water content and root length, and improve the chlorophyll synthesis ability and SPAD value. Melatonin also alleviated the oxidative stress on maize seedlings through increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. With the increase of drought stress days, the peroxidase activity of each treatment group was significantly higher than that of drought group. The proline content increased with the increase of drought stress days, and there was a significant difference in the content of proline between the drought group and other treatments by seven days of drought stress. Taken together, exogenous melatonin can improve the growth ability of maize seedlings under drought stress, mainly by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes and chlorophyll synthesis, reducing the level of membrane lipid peroxidation. Exogenous melatonin can improve the drought resistance of maize and be applied in field as a plant growth regulator.

Key words: maize, drought stress, exogenous melatonin, proline, physiological property

CLC Number: