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ASCOPHYLLUM NODOSUM SEAWEED EXTRACT EFFECT ON DROUGHT STRESS IN BEAN PLANTS

Monica Popescu, Gheorghe Cristian Popescu

Abstract

The use of marine algae in plant cultivation has been known since antiquity, but their application to reduce abiotic stress has been reported in recent years, when the use of technology based on healthy products for humans and other organisms has become a priority. In this work, we investigated the effect of a seaweed extract from the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jolis (SuperFiftyпїЅ 0-0-8) on drought stress tolerance in Phaseolus vulgaris L. Been plants have been influenced by drought stress for a week at the beginning of the booming phase. Two levels of drought stress have been studied, compared with well-watered conditions. After one week, under the same conditions of hydric regime, the plants were sprayed with SuperFifty solution (1:1000). Treatments with seaweed extract solution were applied for two weeks, twice a week. Our results show that seaweed extract has improved some growth parameters in beans maintained under water stress conditions. The beneficial effects are more evident in severe drought conditions. Under studied levels of drought, the relative water content of leaves decreased significantly by 8-15%, compared to the control. By applying seaweed extracts, this parameter has been improved by 2-16%, compared to variants maintained under insufficient soil moisture. Also, commercial product of Ascophyllum nodosum extract (SuperFifty) increased the activity of the antioxidant enzyme catalase. In conclusion, the practice of using seaweeds extracts in agriculture can be a sustainable tool for increasing production, but also for enhance abiotic stress tolerance in plants.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2017h/63/s25.017

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