Enhancing Brassica oleracea L. production in deficit irrigation regime utilising elicitors
Drought stress is a primary abiotic factor impacting plant productivity, growth, and yield by inducing significant physiological and morphological alterations.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of melatonin application under drought stress conditions on the morphometric traits and antioxidant capacity of one Sicilian landrace of sprouting broccoli, well known as ‘Broccolo nero’ (G1), and a commercial cultivarof broccoli, ‘Cavolo broccolo ramoso calabrese’ (G2). The experimental design adopted was split-plot considering three experimental factors: i) the irrigation regime (IR), ii) the melatonin application (MT, 100 µmol L‑1), iii) the genotype (GE). The sowing was carried out in a cold greenhouse located in Catania (Sicily), following organic growing practises.
Two different irrigation regimes were considered: 100% (I0) and 60% (I1) of evapotranspiration replenishment through irrigation.
Two applications of melatonin were performed: soil drench after one week from sowing, and foliar spray after three weeks from sowing.
The drought stress was applied on plantlets with almost 4 true leaves.
After 10 days of drought stress, the plants were collected and characterized for their main morphometric parameters, including the total weight (PW), the number of green (LG) and chlorotic leaves (LC), the stem diameters (SD), the leaf area (LA), the SPAD index, as well as the weight (RW) and the length of the main roots (MRL). Furthermore, the total phenolic content (TPC) and the antioxidant capacity by ABTS radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were determined.
The results showed significant variations among the three experimental factors considered.
We observed significant interaction IR×MT×GE for the stem height, SPAD index and the leaves characteristics (LG and LA). The antioxidant capacity varied in relation to the genotypes studied.
Further studies are required to elucidate the associations between the effects of melatonin application on antioxidant pathways under drought stress conditions.
Arena, D., Ammar, H.B., Rodriguez, V.M., Velasco, P., Calì, R., Ciccarello, L., Al Achkar, N. and Branca, F. (2025). Enhancing Brassica oleracea L. production in deficit irrigation regime utilising elicitors. Acta Hortic. 1416, 567-574
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.72
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.72
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.72
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.72
broccoli, vegetables, melatonin, antioxidant capacity, landraces, baby-leaves
English
1416_72
567-574