Differential Response to Water Deficit in Chili Pepper ( Capsicum annuum L.) Growing in Two Types of Soil Under Different Irrigation Regimes

Israel Macias-Bobadilla, Marcela Vargas-Hernandez, Ramon G. Guevara-Gonzalez, Enrique Rico-Garcia, Rosalia V. Ocampo-Velazquez and Irineo Torres-Pacheco
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Israel Macias-Bobadilla: Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Biosystems Engineering Group, Campus Amazcala, Highway Chichimequillas, km 1 S/N, El Marques C.P., Queretaro 76265, Mexico
Marcela Vargas-Hernandez: Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Campus Amealco, Highway Amealco Temazcaltzingo, km 1, Amealco de Bonfil C.P., Queretaro 76850, Mexico
Ramon G. Guevara-Gonzalez: Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Biosystems Engineering Group, Campus Amazcala, Highway Chichimequillas, km 1 S/N, El Marques C.P., Queretaro 76265, Mexico
Enrique Rico-Garcia: Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Biosystems Engineering Group, Campus Amazcala, Highway Chichimequillas, km 1 S/N, El Marques C.P., Queretaro 76265, Mexico
Rosalia V. Ocampo-Velazquez: Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Biosystems Engineering Group, Campus Amazcala, Highway Chichimequillas, km 1 S/N, El Marques C.P., Queretaro 76265, Mexico
Irineo Torres-Pacheco: Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Biosystems Engineering Group, Campus Amazcala, Highway Chichimequillas, km 1 S/N, El Marques C.P., Queretaro 76265, Mexico

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Chili pepper ( Capsicum spp.) is one of the most economically important horticultural crops in the world; its production for the food and pharmaceutical industries has been increasing worldwide. The economic importance of this crop is due, in part, to the nutraceutical properties derived from its secondary metabolism. Drought is the main environmental factor that affects crop production. Nevertheless, studies involving water deficit have considered short-term responses to sharp water deficit rather than long-term acclimation processes through moderate and gradually increasing water deficits, which omitted the dynamics and profile of the secondary metabolism that are part of the plant’s defence system against this stress factor. The present study aimed to identify the different mechanisms that chili pepper plants use to cope with drought stress using a progressive decrease and increase of water availability, conditions that commonly occur for crops in open fields. Four treatments were applied as follows: gradual water deficit (GWD), initial waterlogging with gradual water deficit (IWGD), sudden water deficit with gradual recovery (SWDR), and no deficit of water (NDW). These conditions should represent a more real situation similar to that faced by plants in the agricultural environment. In order to evaluate the response mechanisms associated with these water deficits, changes in phenological variables, proline accumulation, and the gene expression of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase ( PAL ), chalcone synthase ( CHS ), peroxidase ( POD ), and superoxide dismutase ( SOD ) were measured in chili pepper plants growing on land under different irrigation regimes in two contrasting soil types in areas where chili pepper plants are cultivated in central Mexico. The variables evaluated showed a differentiated response of the mechanisms in plants growing under different levels of water deficit. Given the differential response observed for the gene expression and morphological and biochemical variables studied in chili pepper plants against different water regimes, in this work, this may have implications for more efficient use of water in crops with high nutraceutical content, in addition to prospects for using products derived from secondary metabolism in the pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: soil; drought stress; defence mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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