ISSN 2736-1624
Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (8), pp. 001-010, August, 2018. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Effects of water deficit stress on seed yield and antioxidants content in soybean (Glycine max L.) cultivars
Hassan Masoumi1*, Farrokh Darvish1, Jahanfar Daneshian2, Ghorban Normohammadi1 and Davood Habibi3
1Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran.
2Department of Oilseed crops, Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Iran.
3Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
Accepted 26 March, 2018
Abstract
The metabolic reasons associated with differential sensitivity of soybean cultivars to water deficit stress are not well understood. Therefore, field experiments were conducted in 2008 and 2009 to determine some agronomic traits and activity of antioxidants under different levels of irrigation. The experimental design was randomized complete block in a split plot arrangement with four replications at both years. Irrigation treatments were (S1, 50; S2, 100 and S3, 150 mm evaporation from the Class "A pan" evaporation) and cultivars were (L17, Clean, TMS, Williams*Chippewa and M9). Results showed that, water deficit stress increased antioxidants content [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX)] significantly, but content of them were more at mild than high water deficit stress (S2>S3 >S1). Furthermore, water deficit stress, decreased total chlorophyll content, number of pods per plant, thousand seed weight, seed yield and harvest index in all of cultivars. Among cultivars, L17 and Williams*Chippewa produced the highest seed yield at the optimum condition of irrigation and both water deficit stress levels, respectively. Assessment of correlation results indicated that, there was a positive and significant correlation among SOD and seed yield in both water deficit stress levels, too.
Key words: Soybean, water deficit, antioxidant enzymes.