Influence of straw mulch on yield, chlorophyll contents, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes activities of soybean under drought stress

Influence of straw mulch on yield, chlorophyll contents, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes activities of soybean under drought stress

2011

E05138

Drought is one of the major environmental factors limiting crop productivity worldwide. To investigate the influence of straw mulch on yield, chlorophyll contents, lipid peroxidation and the activities of antioxidative enzymes in soybean under drought stress, a pot experiment was carried out in rain-protected wire-house of Southwest University, Chongqing, China. Soybean plants were supplied with varying wheat straw mulch treatments at true leaf stage such as control (no straw mulch), 3750, 7500, 11,000 and 14,750 kg/ha, and subjected to drought stress at blooming stage. The observations indicated that chlorophyll contents proportionally decreased with the progress of drought stress but linearly increased with increase in straw mulch quantity. Straw mulching increased the soybean grain yield/plant, biological yield/plant and harvest index against control. Significantly higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) but lower concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) were observed in varying mulching treatments compared to control. Straw mulch was able to enhance yield and yield components, photosynthetic pigments and regulate the activities of scavenging enzymes system to mitigate the drought-induced oxidative damage in soybean plants.

9(2):699-704, JOURNAL OF FOOD, AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT

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