Kamran Atif, Shakeel Kainat, Jahan Summera, Komal Lubaba
Institute of Botany, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore, 54590 Pakistan.
Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2025 Jun;31(6):979-991. doi: 10.1007/s12298-025-01617-y. Epub 2025 Jul 8.
Drought stress significantly reduces the crop productivity, including pea ( L.), 'necessitating development of effective strategies to mitigate these losses under changing climatic conditions. This study explores the potential of foliar-applied gibberellic acid (GA) and brassinolide (BR), individually and in combination, to enhance the drought resilience in pea plants. A pot experiment was conducted comprising of treatments i.e. T0 (no-stress), T1 (Stress-without foliar application), T2 (0.4% GA), T3 (0.002% BR) and T4 (T2 + T3). Results indicated that T4 induced the most pronounced improvement in plant height (50%), leaf area (66.4%), total chlorophyll (41%) and carotenoid contents (89%), pod fresh (57.93%) and dry weight (89%), seeds per pod (41%) with enhanced antioxidant activity (81%) as compared to T1 and T0. Additionally, the seed nutrients including crude protein, crude fibre, and nitrogen free extract were increased by 34.6%, 55.9%, and 15% respectively with T4 as compared to T1. The plants treated with T4, were comparable with control in their morphological and yield indices, exhibiting higher stress tolerance; followed by plants receiving T3 (0.002% BR). Molecular docking analysis further substantiates these findings, revealing strong binding affinities of BR (protein ID: 2PWJ; ΔG = - 6.99) and GA (protein ID: KAI2; ΔG = - 7.31) with stress-relieving proteins. These interactions highlight the synergistic role of GA and BR in enhancing drought tolerance through morphological, physiological and metabolic ameliorations. This study concludes that the combined application of GA and BR effectively mitigates drought stress in offering a promising approach to safeguard yield under water-limited conditions.
干旱胁迫显著降低作物产量，包括豌豆（L.），因此有必要制定有效的策略来减轻气候变化条件下的这些损失。本研究探讨了叶面喷施赤霉素（GA）和油菜素内酯（BR）单独及组合使用提高豌豆植株抗旱性的潜力。进行了盆栽试验，包括以下处理：T0（无胁迫）、T1（胁迫-不进行叶面喷施）、T2（0.4%GA）、T3（0.002%BR）和T4（T2+T3）。结果表明，与T1和T0相比，T4处理使株高（提高50%）、叶面积（提高66.4%）、总叶绿素（提高41%）和类胡萝卜素含量（提高89%）、豆荚鲜重（提高57.93%）和干重（提高89%）、每荚种子数（提高41%）有最显著的改善，抗氧化活性增强（提高81%）。此外，与T1相比，T4处理使种子营养成分包括粗蛋白、粗纤维和无氮浸出物分别提高34.6%、55.9%和15%。T4处理的植株在形态和产量指标上与对照相当，表现出更高的胁迫耐受性；其次是接受T3（0.002%BR）处理的植株。分子对接分析进一步证实了这些发现，揭示了BR（蛋白质ID：2PWJ；ΔG = - 6.99）和GA（蛋白质ID：KAI2；ΔG = - 7.31）与应激缓解蛋白有很强的结合亲和力。这些相互作用突出了GA和BR在通过形态、生理和代谢改善增强耐旱性方面的协同作用。本研究得出结论，GA和BR的联合应用有效地减轻了干旱胁迫，为在水分有限条件下保障产量提供了一种有前景的方法。
