Glutathione-mediated changes in productivity, photosynthetic efficiency, osmolytes, and antioxidant capacity of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) grown under water deficit

Taia A Abd El Mageed; Wael Semida; Khoulood A Hemida; Mohammed A H Gyushi; Mostafa M Rady; Abdelsattar Abdelkhalik; Othmane Merah; Marian Brestic; Heba I Mohamed; Ayman El Sabagh; Magdi T Abdelhamid

doi:10.7717/peerj.15343

Glutathione-mediated changes in productivity, photosynthetic efficiency, osmolytes, and antioxidant capacity of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) grown under water deficit

PeerJ. 2023 Jun 22:11:e15343. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15343. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
² Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
³ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁴ Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁵ Laboratoire de Chimie Agro-industrielle, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
⁶ IUT A, Département Génie Biologique, Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse III, Auch, France.
⁷ Plant Physiology, Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Nitra, Slovakia.
⁸ Institute of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, A. Hlinku 2, Nitra, Slovakia.
⁹ Biological and Geological Sciences Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
¹⁰ Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr Al-Sheik, Egypt.
¹¹ Botany Department, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.
¹² Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States of America.

Abstract

Globally, salinity and drought are severe abiotic stresses that presently threaten vegetable production. This study investigates the potential exogenously-applied glutathione (GSH) to relieve water deficits on Phaseolus vulgaris plants cultivated in saline soil conditions (6.22 dS m^-1) by evaluating agronomic, stability index of membrane, water satatus, osmolytes, and antioxidant capacity responses. During two open field growing seasons (2017 and 2018), foliar spraying of glutathione (GSH) at 0.5 (GSH₁) or 1.0 (GSH₁) mM and three irrigation rates (I₁₀₀ = 100%, I₈₀ = 80% and I₆₀ = 60% of the crop evapotranspiration) were applied to common bean plants. Water deficits significantly decreased common bean growth, green pods yield, integrity of the membranes, plant water status, SPAD chlorophyll index, and photosynthetic capacity (F_v/F_m, PI), while not improving the irrigation use efficiency (IUE) compared to full irrigation. Foliar-applied GSH markedly lessened drought-induced damages to bean plants, by enhancing the above variables. The integrative I₈₀ + GSH₁ or GSH₂ and I₆₀ + GSH₁ or GSH₂ elevated the IUE and exceeded the full irrigation without GSH application (I₁₀₀) treatment by 38% and 37%, and 33% and 28%, respectively. Drought stress increased proline and total soluble sugars content while decreased the total free amino acids content. However, GSH-supplemented drought-stressed plants mediated further increases in all analyzed osmolytes contents. Exogenous GSH enhanced the common bean antioxidative machinery, being promoted the glutathione and ascorbic acid content as well as up-regulated the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and glutathione peroxidase. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of exogenous GSH in alleviating water deficit in bean plants cultivated in salty soil.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Drought stress; Growth; Osmotic stress; Water status; Yield.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants* / metabolism
Glutathione / metabolism
Phaseolus* / metabolism
Soil
Water / metabolism

Substances

Antioxidants
Water
Glutathione
Soil

Grants and funding

This study was a portion of Research Project No. 11030129 corroborative by the National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.