Majd Mohammad Darwish * ⁽¹⁾

(1). Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Dr. Majd Darwish. E-Mail: majds26@yahoo.com).

Received:2/12/2021            Accepted: 3/06/2022

Abstract: 

The research was carried out in Al-Mzeiraa village within Lattakia during the 2021 agricultural season, by planting tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) seedlings in experimental plots according to the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and with three replicates per treatment. The aim of this research was to study the effect of drought stress induced with PEG concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 %) or spraying with hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂ (0, 10, 20 and 30 mmol), or spraying with H₂O₂ under conditions of drought stress in some growth and productivity characteristics of the studied tobacco cultivar. Plant height (cm) and a number of morphological (total leaf area (cm²), net photosynthetic (mg/cm²/day)), biochemical (total content of chlorophyll and proline (µg/g fresh weight) and soluble sugars %) and productivity (dry leaf yield (g/plant)) indicators were measured. Drought stress treatments, especially at concentrations 30 and 40 % PEG, caused a significant decrease (P<0.05) in most of the studied growth and productivity traits. On the other hand, spraying with H₂O₂ alone, especially at concentrations of 10 and 20 mmol, resulted in a significant increase (P<0.05) in most of the studied traits. Also, spraying treatments with H₂O₂ under drought stress conditions significantly improved plant growth and productivity in all spraying treatments 10, 20 and 30 mmol, except for the treatment of spraying at a concentration of 30 mm under the conditions of drought stress 40 % PEG, which led to a negative effect on all the studied characteristics. Thus, it can be suggested to spray tobacco plants with a concentration of 10-20 mmol of H₂O₂ alone, or those grown under conditions (low and medium intensity) of drought stress, due to its positive role in improving growth and increasing the leaf yield of tobacco.

Keywords: Hydrogen peroxide, Tobacco, Drought stress, Polyethylene glycol.

Full paper in Arabic: pdf