Abstract
Improvement of plant performance under drought stress is crucial to sustaining agricultural productivity. The current study investigated the ameliorative effects of foliar-applied kinetin, an adenine-type cytokinin (CK), on growth and gas exchange parameters, water relations and biochemical attributes of maize plants under drought stress. Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought by maintaining soil moisture content at 25% field capacity for 8 days followed by foliar application of kinetin at 0, 75, 150 and 225 mg L−1 (CK0, CK75, CK150 and CK225, respectively) to the plants for two-times at the 9-day interval. Results revealed that drought stress markedly reduced stem diameter, dry weight, chlorophyll content, gas exchange parameters and water balance but increased proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents, electrolyte leakage and senescence in maize leaves. Application of exogenous CK remarkably improved maize performance by modulating growth, gas exchange- and water relation-related parameters in a dose-dependent manner under drought stress. CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%) and also delayed leaf senescence but decreased internal CO2 concentration (by 7.38%), water saturation deficit (by 40.40%) and water uptake capacity (by 42.49%) in both well-watered and drought-stressed plants. Nevertheless, CK application considerably decreased electrolyte leakage, proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar levels in drought-stressed maize plants, as also supported by heatmap and cluster analyses. Taken together, exogenous CK at proper concentration (225 mg L−1) successfully improved maize performance under drought conditions, thereby suggesting CK application as a useful approach to alleviate drought-induced adverse effects in maize plants, and perhaps in other important crop plants.
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Claims 16
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced stem diameter, dry weight and chlorophyll content of maize.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e1“drought stress markedly reduced stem diameter, dry weight, chlorophyll content, gas exchange parameters and water balance but increased proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents, electrolyte leakage and senescence in maize leaves”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress reduced gas exchange parameters and water balance of maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e1“drought stress markedly reduced stem diameter, dry weight, chlorophyll content, gas exchange parameters and water balance but increased proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents, electrolyte leakage and senescence in maize leaves”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress increased proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents in maize leaves.
- Organ / stage
- maize leavese1
- Treatment
- drought stresse1
- Outcome
- proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contentse1
- Direction
- increasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e1“drought stress markedly reduced stem diameter, dry weight, chlorophyll content, gas exchange parameters and water balance but increased proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents, electrolyte leakage and senescence in maize leaves”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought stress increased electrolyte leakage and senescence in maize leaves.
- Organ / stage
- maize leavese1
- Treatment
- drought stresse1
- Outcome
- electrolyte leakage and senescencee1
- Direction
- increasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e1“drought stress markedly reduced stem diameter, dry weight, chlorophyll content, gas exchange parameters and water balance but increased proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar contents, electrolyte leakage and senescence in maize leaves”
Claim · model-written summary
Exogenous cytokinin application improved maize performance under drought stress in a dose-dependent manner.
- Treatment
- Application of exogenous CKe2
- Outcome
- maize performancee2
- Direction
- improvede2
- Qualifier
- in a dose-dependent manner under drought stresse2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e2“Application of exogenous CK remarkably improved maize performance by modulating growth, gas exchange- and water relation-related parameters in a dose-dependent manner under drought stress”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 increased chlorophyll content of maize by 61.54%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 increased relative water content of maize by 49.14%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 increased net photosynthesis rate of maize by 39.94%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 increased transpiration rate of maize by 121.36%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 delayed leaf senescence of maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
e4“and also delayed leaf senescence but decreased internal CO2 concentration (by 7.38%), water saturation deficit (by 40.40%) and water uptake capacity (by 42.49%) in both well-watered and drought-stressed plants”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 decreased internal CO2 concentration of maize by 7.38%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
e4“and also delayed leaf senescence but decreased internal CO2 concentration (by 7.38%), water saturation deficit (by 40.40%) and water uptake capacity (by 42.49%) in both well-watered and drought-stressed plants”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 decreased water saturation deficit of maize by 40.40%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
e4“and also delayed leaf senescence but decreased internal CO2 concentration (by 7.38%), water saturation deficit (by 40.40%) and water uptake capacity (by 42.49%) in both well-watered and drought-stressed plants”
Claim · model-written summary
CK225 decreased water uptake capacity of maize by 42.49%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e3“CK225 increased chlorophyll content (by 61.54%), relative water content (by 49.14%), net photosynthesis rate (by 39.94%) and transpiration rate (by 121.36%)”
e4“and also delayed leaf senescence but decreased internal CO2 concentration (by 7.38%), water saturation deficit (by 40.40%) and water uptake capacity (by 42.49%) in both well-watered and drought-stressed plants”
Claim · model-written summary
CK application decreased electrolyte leakage, proline and malondialdehyde in drought-stressed maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e5“Nevertheless, CK application considerably decreased electrolyte leakage, proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar levels in drought-stressed maize plants”
Claim · model-written summary
CK application decreased soluble sugar levels in drought-stressed maize.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Eighteen-day-old maize plants were subjected to drought”
e5“Nevertheless, CK application considerably decreased electrolyte leakage, proline, malondialdehyde and soluble sugar levels in drought-stressed maize plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Cytokinin application is a useful approach to alleviate drought-induced adverse effects in maize.
- Outcome
- drought-induced adverse effectse6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e6“thereby suggesting CK application as a useful approach to alleviate drought-induced adverse effects in maize plants”
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