Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (2): 338-348.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20240161

• Horticultural Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Mitigative effect of foliar spraying melatonin on drought stress of cabbage seedlings

REN Yuanlong(), MA Rong, WANG Xiaozhuo(), ZHANG Xueyan   

  1. College of Enology and Horticulture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
  • Received:2024-02-22 Online:2025-02-25 Published:2025-03-20
  • Contact: WANG Xiaozhuo

Abstract:

To investigate the mitigative effect of melatonin (MT) sprayed on leaves and its optimal concentration on drought stress in cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata L.) seedlings, this study used the high-altitude cool-weather vegetable variety ‘Zhonggan 21’ as the experimental material. 20% polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG) solution was used as the osmotic agent for simulating drought stress. Different concentrations of MT (50, 100, 150, 200 μmol·L-1) were sprayed onto the leaves, and growth and physiological indicators of the cabbage seedlings were measured. The results showed that drought stress significantly inhibited the growth of cabbage seedlings, and spraying different concentrations of MT on the leaves could mitigate the growth inhibition caused by drought stress, with the most significant mitigative effect observed at 100 μmol·L-1 MT. Under drought stress, after spraying 100 μmol·L-1 MT, compared to the drought stress control (T0 treatment), the relative chlorophyll content (expressed by SPAD), and contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, chlorophyll a+b increased by 28.11%, 67.04%, 80.70%, 46.56%, and 70.79%, respectively; photochemical quenching coefficient (qP), maximum photochemical quantum yield (Fv/Fm), actual photosynthetic efficiency [Y(Ⅱ)], electron transport rate (ETR) and maximum fluorescence yield (Fm') increased by 32.88%, 47.29%, 53.19%, 60.22% and 49.56%, respectively; contents of soluble sugars and soluble proteins increased by 147.36% and 150.02% respectively, while non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ), leaf relative electric conductivity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content decreased by 43.65%, 45.11%, and 51.09%, respectively; activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) were 1.37, 1.34, and 2.75 times higher than those under drought stress in leaves, and 1.89, 1.28, and 2.08 times higher in roots. In conclusion, foliar application of 100 μmol·L-1 MT can significantly promote the growth of cabbage seedlings and effectively mitigate the damage caused by drought stress to the high-altitude cool-weather vegetable variety ‘Zhonggan 21’.

Key words: Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata L., exogenous melatonin, drought stress, growth, physiology, mitigative effect

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