article · PeerJ
Water shortages and soil salinity significantly restrict vegetable production. A two-season open field evaluation assessed the impact of foliar-applied glutathione on common bean crops subjected to water deficits in saline soil conditions. Under reduced irrigation, bean plants exhibited substantial declines in growth, green pod yield, membrane stability, plant water status, and photosynthetic capacity. Applying glutathione at concentrations of 0.5 mM or 1.0 mM counteracted these negative effects, boosting plant antioxidant activity, including protective enzymes and ascorbic acid levels, while raising osmolyte concentrations. Furthermore, combining reduced irrigation levels with glutathione applications substantially improved irrigation use efficiency, outperforming standard full irrigation regimes without glutathione by up to 38 percent. Foliar glutathione sprays effectively mitigate drought-induced damage in bean crops cultivated in saline environments.
Saline soils and water scarcity increasingly threaten agricultural yields, especially for sensitive vegetable crops. Demonstrating that a targeted chemical treatment such as foliar glutathione can sustain pod yields and enhance water use efficiency under combined drought and salinity offers a practical approach for cultivating legumes in challenging climates while conserving scarce water resources.
The work points toward an applied foliar treatment that could be adopted by vegetable growers and agricultural input manufacturers managing bean production in saline or drought-prone environments. Because the findings derive from two seasons of open field trials, the intervention is applied and tested rather than purely conceptual. Commercial implementation would require developing stable, cost-effective agricultural formulations and establishing scalable application schedules for commercial farming.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
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 <i>Phaseolus vulgaris</i> plants cultivated in saline soil conditions (6.22 dS m<sup>-1</sup>) 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 (GSH<sub>1</sub>) or 1.0 (GSH<sub>1</sub>) mM and three irrigation rates (I<sub>100</sub> = 100%, I<sub>80</sub> = 80% and I<sub>60</sub> = 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<sub>v</sub>/F<sub>m</sub>, 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 I<sub>80</sub> + GSH<sub>1</sub> or GSH<sub>2</sub> and I<sub>60</sub> + GSH<sub>1</sub> or GSH<sub>2</sub> elevated the IUE and exceeded the full irrigation without GSH application (I<sub>100</sub>) 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.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15343
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
