title: Paclobutrazol induces tolerance in tomato to deficit irrigation through diversified effects on plant morphology, physiology and metabolism.
abstract: Dwindling water resources combined with meeting the demands for food security require maximizing water use efficiency (WUE) both in rainfed and irrigated agriculture. In this regard, deficit irrigation (DI), defined as the administration of water below full crop-water requirements (evapotranspiration), is a valuable practice to contain irrigation water use. In this study, the mechanism of paclobutrazol (Pbz)-mediated improvement in tolerance to water deficit in tomato was thoroughly investigated. Tomato plants were subjected to normal irrigated and deficit irrigated conditions plus Pbz application (0.8 and 1.6 ppm). A comprehensive morpho-physiological, metabolomics and molecular analysis was undertaken. Findings revealed that Pbz application reduced plant height, improved stem diameter and leaf number, altered root architecture, enhanced photosynthetic rates and WUE of tomato plants under deficit irrigation. Pbz differentially induced expression of genes and accumulation of metabolites of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA-shunt pathway), glutathione ascorbate (GSH-ASC)-cycle, cell wall and sugar metabolism, abscisic acid (ABA), spermidine (Spd) content and expression of an aquaporin (AP) protein under deficit irrigation. Our results suggest that Pbz application could significantly improve tolerance in tomato plants under limited water availability through selective changes in morpho-physiology and induction of stress-related molecular processes.
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Sikander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Jiangsan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Asif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Narendra Singh
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Batushansky
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barak
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rewald
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fait
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Naftali
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lazarovitch
authors.affiliation: Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
authors.forename: Shimon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rachmilevitch
mesh_terms: D057914:Agricultural Irrigation; D000818:Animals; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014230:Triazoles / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014230:Triazoles; C053370:paclobutrazol