Abstract
The natural variation of drought tolerance among eight Iranian bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.) accessions was evaluated and compared with a commonly used variety by measuring various morphological, growth, physiological and molecular responses during mild and severe drought stress conditions. A combined multivariable analysis using principal component analysis, hierarchical clustering analysis, as well as drought-tolerance ranking measurement showed that the accessions were clustered into three groups in terms of drought tolerance. This method evaluated three accessions (Maragh, Abyaneh, and Badrood) as superior drought-tolerant, three (Karshahi, Josheghan, and Kashan) as relatively drought-tolerant, and three (Ardeha, SWI-7, and Khonb) as drought-sanative genotypes. Drought-tolerant accessions generally showed improved growth and relative water content (RWC), minor electrolyte leakage (EL) and lipid peroxidation (MDA), higher content of pigments (Chlorophyll and carotenoid) and dark green color index (DGCI), more significant up-regulation of two stress-related genes (ECERIFERUM1 and Delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase), as well as higher accumulation of proline content compared to sensitive accessions under drought stress. On the other hand, drought-sensitive accessions typically had more activity of antioxidant enzymes (catalase and ascorbate peroxidase), and higher amounts of soluble sugars (glucose, mannose, and rhamnose), compared to tolerant accessions under drought stress. In conclusion, different defensive strategies may be recruited by tolerant or sensitive bermudagrass genotypes during encountering to drought stress.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aebi H (1984) Catalase in Vitro. Method Enzymol 105:121–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0076-6879(84)05016-3
Aghaie P, Tafreshi SAH, Ebrahimi MA, Haerinasab M (2018) Tolerance evaluation and clustering of fourteen tomato cultivars grown under mild and severe drought conditions. Sci Hortic 232:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2017.12.041
Akram NA, Shahbaz M, Ashraf M (2008) Nutrient acquisition in differentially adapted populations of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers and Cenchrus ciliaris L. under drought stress. Pak. J. Bot. 40(4):1433–1440
Anaraki ZE, Shariati M, Tafreshi SAH (2017) Transient silencing of phytoene desaturase reveals critical roles on plant response to salinity stress. Acta Physiol Plant 39(8):161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2460-3
Anjum SA, Xie X-y, Wang L-c, Saleem MF, Man C (2011) Morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of plants to drought stress. Afr J Agr Res 6(9):2026–2032
Arora A, Sairam R, Srivastava G (2002) Oxidative stress and antioxidative system in plants. Curr Sci 1227–1238. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24107045
Asada K (1987) Purification of ascorbate peroxidase in spinach chloroplasts; its inactivation in ascorbate-depleted medium and reactivation by mono-dehydroascorbate radical. Plant Cell Physiol 28:131–135. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pcp.a077268
Bahreininejad B, Razmjou J, Mirza M (2013) Influence of water stress on morpho-physiological and phytochemical traits in Thymus daenensis. Int J Plant Prod 7(1):151–166.
Bates LS, Waldren RP, Teare I (1973) Rapid determination of free proline for water-stress studies. Plant Soil 39(1):205–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00018060
Beard J, Sifers S (1997) Genetic diversity in dehydration avoidance and drought resistance within the Cynodon and Zoysia species. Int Turfgrass Soc Res J 8:603–610
Bhatt R, Rao NS (2005) Influence of pod load on response of okra to water stress. Indian J Plant Physiol 10(1):54
Bijanzadeh E, Emam Y (2010) Effect of source-sink manipulation on yield components and photosynthetic characteristic of wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum and T. durum L.). J. Appl. Sci. 10(7):564–569. https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2010.564.569
Bourdenx B, Bernard A, Domergue F, Pascal S, Léger A, Roby D, Pervent M, Napier JA (2011) Overexpression of Arabidopsis ECERIFERUM1 promotes wax very-long-chain alkane biosynthesis and influences plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Plant Physiol 156(1):29–45. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.111.172320
Bray EA (2002) Classification of genes differentially expressed during water-deficit stress in Arabidopsis thaliana: an analysis using microarray and differential expression data. Ann Bot 89(7):803–811. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcf104
Chunthaburee S, Sanitchon J, Pattanagul W, Theerakulpisut P (2015) Effects of salt stress after late booting stage on yield and antioxidant capacity in pigmented rice grains and alleviation of the salt-induced yield reduction by exogenous spermidine. Plant Prod Sci 18(1):32–42. https://doi.org/10.1626/pps.18.32
Curran PJ, Dungan JL, Gholz HL (1990) Exploring the relationship between reflectance red edge and chlorophyll content in slash pine. Tree Physiol 7(1-2-3–4):33–48. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/7.1-2-3-4.33
De Wet JMJ, Harlan JR (1970) Biosystematics of Cynodon L. C. Rich. (Gramineae). Taxon 19:565–569. https://doi.org/10.2307/1218950
Du H, Wang Z, Yu W, Huang B (2012) Metabolic responses of hybrid bermudagrass to short-term and long-term drought stress. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 137(6):411–420. https://doi.org/10.21273/JASHS.137.6.411
Egert M, Tevini M (2002) Influence of drought on some physiological parameters symptomatic for oxidative stress in leaves of chives (Allium schoenoprasum). Environ Exp Bot 48(1):43–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0098-8472(02)00008-4
Elmi Anaraki Z, Shariati M, Hosseini Tafreshi SA (2017) Transient silencing of phytoene desaturase reveals critical roles on plant response to salinity stress. Acta Physiol Plant 39:161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2460-3
Etemadi N, Khalighi A, Razmjoo K, Lessani H, Zamani Z (2005) Drought resistance of selected bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] accessions. Int J Agric Bio 4:612–615
Faize M, Burgos L, Faize L, Piqueras A, Nicolas E, Barba-Espin G, Clemente-Moreno M, Alcobendas R, Artlip T, Hernande J (2011) Involvement of cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase and Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase for improved tolerance against drought stress. J Exp Bot 62:2599–2613
Filella I, Serrano L, Serra J, Penuelas J (1995) Evaluating wheat nitrogen status with canopy reflectance indices and discriminant analysis. Crop Sci 35(5):1400–1405. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci1995.0011183X003500050023x
Fini A, Guidi L, Brunetti C, Biricolti S, Calamai L, Tattini M (2012) Drought stress has contrasting effects on antioxidant enzymes activity and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis in Fraxinus ornus leaves: an excess light stress affair? J Plant Physiol 169(10):929–939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2012.02.014
Havaux M (1998) Carotenoids as membrane stabilizers in chloroplasts. Trends Plant Sci 3(4):147–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1360-1385(98)01200-X
Hoagland DR, Arnon DI (1950) The water-culture method for growing plants without soil. California Agricultural Experiment Station. Circular-347.
Hu L, Wang Z, Huang B (2010) Diffusion limitations and metabolic factors associated with inhibition and recovery of photosynthesis from drought stress in a C3 perennial grass species. Phys Plant 139(1):93–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2010.01350.x
Huang S, Jiang S, Liang J, Chen M, Shi Y (2019) Current knowledge of bermudagrass responses to abiotic stresses. Breed Sci. 69(2):215–226. https://doi.org/10.1270/jsbbs.18164
Ierna A, Mauromicale G (2006) Physiological and growth response to moderate water deficit of off-season potatoes in a Mediterranean environment. Agric Water Manag 82(1–2):193–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2005.05.005
Jaleel CA, Manivannan P, Wahid A, Farooq M, Somasundaram R, Panneerselvam R (2009) Drought stress in plants: a review on morphological characteristics and pigments composition. Int J Agric Biol 11(1):100–105
Javadi T, Rohollahi D, Ghaderi N, Nazari F (2017) Mitigating the adverse effects of drought stress on the morpho-physiological traits and anti-oxidative enzyme activities of Prunus avium through β-amino butyric acid drenching. Sci Hortic 218:156–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2017.02.019
Kadkhodaie A, Razmjoo J, Zahedi M (2013) Peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase and catalase activities in drought sensitive, intermediate and resistance sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) genotypes. Int J Plant Prod 4(11):3012–3021
Kim C, Lemke C, Paterson AH (2009) Functional dissection of drought-responsive gene expression patterns in Cynodon dactylon L. Plant Mol Biol 70(1–2):1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-009-9453-6
Kim JK, Park S-Y, Lim S-H, Cho HS, Ha S-H (2013) Comparative metabolic profiling of pigmented rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars reveals primary metabolites are correlated with secondary metabolites. J Cereal Sci 57(1):14–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2012.09.012
Kochert G (1978) Carbohydrate determination by the phenol-sulfuric acid method. In: Hellebust JA, Craigie JS (eds) Handbook of phycological methods: physiological and biochemical methods. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 95–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-67356-6_52
Lichtenthaler HK, Wellburn AR (1983) Determinations of total carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b of leaf extracts in different solvents. Biochem Soc Trans 11(5):591–592. https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0110591
Lin K-HR, Tsou C-C, Hwang S-Y, Chen L-FO, Lo H-F (2006) Paclobutrazol pre-treatment enhanced flooding tolerance of sweet potato. J Plant Physiol 163(7):750–760. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2005.07.008
Liu Y, Zhang X, Tran H, Shan L, Childs K, Frazier T, Zhao B (2015) Assessment of drought tolerance of 49 switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) genotypes using physiological and morphological parameters. Biotechnol Biofuels 8(1):152. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-015-0342-8
Lu S, Chen C, Wang Z, Guo Z, Li H (2009) Physiological responses of somaclonal variants of triploid bermudagrass (Cynodon transvaalensis× Cynodon dactylon) to drought stress. Plant Cell Rep 28(3):517–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-008-0649-z
Lu S, Peng X, Zhang G, Wang C, Fan Z, Wang J (2007) In vitro selection of salinity tolerant variants from triploid bermudagrass (Cynodon transvaalensis× C. dactylon) and their physiological responses to salt and drought stress. Plant Cell Rep. 26(8):1413–1420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0339-2
Mafakheri A, Siosemardeh A, Bahramnejad B, Struik P, Sohrabi Y (2010) Effect of drought stress on yield, proline and chlorophyll contents in three chickpea cultivars. Aust J Crop Sci 4(8):580
Manuchehri R, Salehi H (2015) Morphophysiological and biochemical changes in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) under combined salinity and deficit irrigation stresses. Desert. 20(1):29–38
Medeiros DB, Silva Elizamar C, Santos HRB, Musser RdS (2012) Physiological and biochemical responses to drought stress in Barbados cherry. Braz J Plant Physiol 24(3):181–192. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1677-04202012000300005
Melmaiee K, Anderson M, Elavarthi S, Guenzi A, Canaan P (2015) Transcriptional analysis of resistance to low temperatures in bermudagrass crown tissues. PLoS ONE 10(9):e0136433. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136433
Metsalu T, Vilo J (2015) ClustVis: a web tool for visualizing clustering of multivariate data using Principal Component Analysis and heatmap. Nucleic Acids Res 43(W1):W566–W570
Mirzai M, Moeini A, Ghanati F (2013) Effects of drought stress on the lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme activities in two canola (Brassica napus L.) cultivars. J Agr Sci Tech-Iran 15:593–602. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443718020127
Morris KN (2002) A guide to NTEP turfgrass ratings. A publication of the national Turfgrass evaluation program. NTEP 11:30–39
Nakano Y, Asada K (1987) Purification of ascorbate peroxidase in spinach chloroplasts; its inactivation in ascorbate-depleted medium and reactivation by monodehydroascorbate radical. Plant Cell Physiol 28(1):131–140
Nohong B, Nompo S (2015) Effect of water stress on growth, yield, proline and soluble sugars contents of Signal grass and Napier grass species. Am-Eurasian J Sustain Agric 9(5):14–21
Nxele X, Klein A, Ndimba B (2017) Drought and salinity stress alters ROS accumulation, water retention, and osmolyte content in sorghum plants. S Afr J Bot 108:261–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2016.11.003
Paleg LG, Aspinall D (1981) Physiology and biochemistry of drought resistance in plants. Academic Press, New York, pp 15–37
Pandey HC, Baig M, Chandra A, Bhatt R (2010) Drought stress induced changes in lipid peroxidation and antioxidant system in genus Avena. J Environ Biol 31(4):435–440
Phillips S (1995) Poaceae (Gramineae). In: Hedberg I, Edwards S (eds) Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Addis Ababa University, The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa, p 420
Ren J, Sun LN, Zhang QY, Song XS (2016) Drought tolerance is correlated with the activity of antioxidant enzymes in Cerasus humilis seedlings. Biomed Res Int 2016:9851095. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/9851095
Riaz A, Younis A, Hameed M, Kiran S (2010) Morphological and biochemical responses of turf grasses to water deficit conditions. Pak J Bot 42(5):3441–3448
Sánchez-Rodríguez E, Rubio-Wilhelmi MM, Blasco B, Rosales MA, Ruiz JM (2010) Genotypic differences in some physiological parameters symptomatic for oxidative stress under moderate drought in tomato plants. Plant Sci 178(1):30–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.10.001
Shao H-b, Chu L-y, Shao M-a, Jaleel CA, Hong-mei M (2008) Higher plant antioxidants and redox signaling under environmental stresses. CR Biol 6:433–441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2008.03.011
Shi H, Wang Y, Cheng Z, Ye T, Chan Z (2012) Analysis of natural variation in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) reveals physiological responses underlying drought tolerance. PLoS ONE 7(12):e53422. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053422
Sofo A, Scopa A, Nuzzaci M, Vitti A (2015) Ascorbate peroxidase and catalase activities and their genetic regulation in plants subjected to drought and salinity stresses. Int J Mol Sci 16(6):13561–13578. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms160613561
Steele MR, Gitelson AA, Rundquist DC (2008) A comparison of two techniques for nondestructive measurement of chlorophyll content in grapevine leaves. Agron J 100(3):779–782. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2007.0254N
Systat (1998) SigmaScan Pro. Version 5.0. Systat Software Inc., San Jose
Verbruggen N, Hermans C (2008) Proline accumulation in plants: a review. Amino Acids 35(4):753–759. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-008-0061-6
Wu Y, Taliaferro C, Bai G, Anderson M (2004) AFLP analysis of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. var. dactylon genetic variation. Genome 47(4):689–696. https://doi.org/10.1139/g04-032
Yan B, Dai Q, Liu X, Huang S, Wang Z (1996) Flooding-induced membrane damage, lipid oxidation and activated oxygen generation in corn leaves. Plant Soil 179(2):261–268. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00009336
Ye C, Tenorio FA, Argayoso MA, Laza MA, Koh H, Redoña ED, Jagadish KSV, Gregorio GB (2015) Identifying and confirming quantitative trait loci associated with heat tolerance at flowering stage in different rice populations. BMC Genet 16(1):41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12863-015-0199-7
Yerramsetty PN, Anderson MP, Taliaferro CM, Martin DL (2008) Genetic variations in clonally propagated bermudagrass cultivars identified by DNA fingerprinting. Plant Omics 1(1):1–8
Zhang C, Pinnix GD, Zhang Z, Miller GL, Rufty TW (2017) Evaluation of key methodology for digital image analysis of turfgrass color using open-source software. Crop Sci 57(2):550–558. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2016.04.0285
Zhao Y, Du H, Wang Z, Huang B (2011) Identification of proteins associated with water-deficit tolerance in C4 perennial grass species Cynodon dactylon × Cynodon transvaalensis and Cynodon dactylon. Physiol Plantarum 141(1):40–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2010.01419.x
Zhou P, An Y, Wang Z, Du H, Huang B (2014) Characterization of gene expression associated with drought avoidance and tolerance traits in a perennial grass species. PLoS ONE 9(8):e103611. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103611
Zhu X, Chang G, He D, Zhao H, Ma C (2014) Evaluation of new onion varieties using cluster analysis and principal component analysis methods. Gansu Agr Sci 10:25–28
Acknowledgements
This research received financial support from graduate studies of the University of Kashan and Shahed University of Tehran under the grant no. 23840. Special thanks to Mrs. Ejtahed (Head of Biotechnology Lab at the University of Kashan) and Mr. M. Baghi for their critical helps and suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
S.A..H.Tafreshi: Conceptualization, Supervision, Methodology, Writing. S.S.A.: Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis. A.R.: Supervision.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interests
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ajtahed, S.S., Rezaei, A. & Hosseini Tafreshi, S.A. Identifying superior drought-tolerant Bermudagrass accessions and their defensive responses to mild and severe drought conditions. Euphytica 217, 91 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-021-02821-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-021-02821-z