Optimal potassium fertilization mitigates drought stress effects on sugarcane growth and physiology

Anh Tuan Le; Nguyen Nguyen  Chuong; Ngoc Thang Vu; Thai-Hoang Dinh; The Khuynh Bui

doi:10.14719/pst.3741

Authors

Anh Tuan Le Faculty of Biology-Biotechnology, University of Sciences, Ho Chi Minh 70 000, Vietnam https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9584-7807
Nguyen Nguyen Chuong Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City 70 000, Vietnam https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9631-9953
Ngoc Thang Vu Faculty of Agronomy, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi 131 000, Vietnam https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0993-8663
Thai-Hoang Dinh Faculty of Agronomy, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi 131 000, Vietnam https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3699-9605
The Khuynh Bui Faculty of Agronomy, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi 131 000, Vietnam https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5554-752X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.3741

Keywords:

drought stress, plant growth, potassium, sugarcane

Abstract

Sugarcane is a key global crop, providing up to 60 % of raw sugar material. However, abiotic stress factors, especially water scarcity, significantly limit its productivity by reducing nutrient uptake and transport within the plant. Ensuring proper nutrition is essential to improve stress tolerance and maintain sugarcane yield. This study conducted a two-factor experiment following a completely randomized design in a greenhouse to evaluate the effects of potassium application (in soil) on the growth and physiology of a sugarcane cultivar named ROC27 (ROC27 cv.) under a drought condition. The first factor was potassium application (in the form of potassium oxide) with 4 different rates, including K1 (0 kg/ha), K2 (100 kg/ha), K3 (150 kg/ha) and K4 (200 kg/ha), while the second factor was irrigation with 2 treatments: control (normal irrigation daily); drought (no irrigation from 100-120 days after planting). Here, we revealed that drought significantly affected sugarcanes' growth and physiological characteristics as it decreased plant height, stem diameter, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic efficiency, total plant dry weight and stem fresh weight. Different rates of potassium oxide application in the soil also showed different influences on the growth and development of sugarcane. Applying 100 kg/ha potassium oxide resulted in the highest growth and physiological performance under drought conditions. Furthermore, plants from this treatment also recorded the highest stem fresh weight of ROC27 at the end of the recovery period (20 days of re-watering after drought treatments). Taken together, these results indicate that an appropriate amount of potassium oxide application significantly enhanced sugarcane physiological traits and mitigated the adverse effects of drought on plant growth and development.

Downloads

References

Amalraj RS, Selvaraj N, Veluswamy GK, Ramanujan RP, Muthurajan R, Palaniyandi M, et al. Sugarcane proteomics: establishment of a protein extraction method for 2?DE in stalk tissues and initiation of sugarcane proteome reference map. Electrophoresis. 2010;31(12):1959-74. https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.200900779

Ferreira THS, Tsunada MS, Bassi D, Araújo P, Mattiello L, Guidelli G V, et al. Sugarcane water stress tolerance mechanisms and its implications on developing biotechnology solutions. Front Plant Sci. 2017;8:1077. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.01077

Gentile A, Dias LI, Mattos RS, Ferreira TH, Menossi M. MicroRNAs and drought responses in sugarcane. Front Plant Sci. 2015;6:86688. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.00058

Walter A, Galdos MV, Scarpare FV, Verde Leal MRL, Abel Seabra JE, da Cunha MP, et al. Brazilian sugarcane ethanol: developments so far and challenges for the future. Advances in Bioenergy: The Sustainability Challenge. 2016;373-94. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118957844.ch24

Silva M de A, Jifon JL, Santos CM dos, Jadoski CJ, Silva JAG da. Photosynthetic capacity and water use efficiency in sugarcane genotypes subject to water deficit during early growth phase. Braz Arch Biol Technol. 2013;56:735-48. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1516-89132013000500004

Luc TTT, Bui TPL, Mai VT, Dang AM, Nguyen THT, Pham TMN. Effect of some technical solutions on sugarcane yield under drought conditions in the Central Coast region. Vietnam J Agric Sci. 2020;1(110):23-28.

Studer C, Hu Y, Schmidhalter U. Interactive effects of N-, P- and K- nutrition and drought stress on the development of maize seedlings. Agriculture. 2017;7(11):90. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture7110090

Wei J, Li C, Li Y, Jiang G, Cheng G, Zheng Y. Effects of external potassium (K) supply on drought tolerances of two contrasting winter wheat cultivars. PLoS One. 2013;8(7):e69737. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069737

Rama Rao N. Potassium nutrition of pearl millet subjected to moisture stress. J Potass Res. 1986;2(1):1-12.

Wang M, Zheng Q, Shen Q, Guo S. The critical role of potassium in plant stress response. Int J Mol Sci. 2013;14(4):7370-90. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms14047370

Zahoor R, Zhao W, Dong H, Snider JL, Abid M, Iqbal B, et al. Potassium improves photosynthetic tolerance to and recovery from episodic drought stress in functional leaves of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Plant Physio Biochem. 2017;119:21-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2017.08.011

Marschner H. Mineral nutrition of higher plants. Londra; 1995.

Camargo MAB, Marenco RA. Density, size and distribution of stomata in 35 rainforest tree species in Central Amazonia. Acta Amazon. 2011;41:205-12. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0044-59672011000200004

Medeiros DB, Silva EC da, Nogueira RJMC, Teixeira MM, Buckeridge MS. Physiological limitations in two sugarcane varieties under water suppression and after recovering. Theor Exp Plant Physiol. 2013;25:213-22. https://doi.org/10.1590/S2197-00252013000300006

Hoang DT, Hiroo T, Yoshinobu K. Nitrogen use efficiency and drought tolerant ability of various sugarcane varieties under drought stress at early growth stage. Plant Prod Sci. 2019;22(2):250-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/1343943X.2018.1540277

Jangpromma N, Songsri P, Thammasirirak S, Jaisil P. Rapid assessment of chlorophyll content in sugarcane using a SPAD chlorophyll meter across different water stress conditions. Asian J Plant Sci. 2010;9(6):368-74. https://doi.org/10.3923/ajps.2010.368.374

Smith DM, Inman-Bamber NG, Thorburn PJ. Growth and function of the sugarcane root system. Field Crops Res. 2005;92(2-3):169-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2005.01.017

Misra V, Solomon S, Mall AK, Prajapati CP, Hashem A, Abd_Allah EF, Ansari MI. Morphological assessment of water stressed sugarcane: A comparison of waterlogged and drought affected crop. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2020;27(5):1228-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.02.007

Reddy TY, Reddy VR, Anbumozhi V. Physiological responses of groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) to drought stress and its amelioration: a critical review. Plant Growth Regul. 2003;41:75-88. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027353430164

Jaiphong T, Tominaga J, Watanabe K, Nakabaru M, Takaragawa H, Suwa R, et al. Effects of duration and combination of drought and flood conditions on leaf photosynthesis, growth and sugar content in sugarcane. Plant Prod Sci. 2016;19(3):427-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/1343943X.2016.1159520

Taiz L, Zeiger E. Plant physiology third edition. Massachussetts:Sinauer Associaties Inc. Publishers; 2002

Khuynh BT, Thang VN, Chinh VD, Thom PT. Growth and physiological responses of sugarcane to drought stress at an early growth stage. Viet J Agric Sci. 2019;2(4):451-60. https://doi.org/10.31817/vjas.2019.2.4.01

Xu Z, Zhou G. Responses of leaf stomatal density to water status and its relationship with photosynthesis in a grass. J Exp Bot. 2008;59(12):3317-25. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ern185

Lawson T. Guard cell photosynthesis and stomatal function. New Phytol. 2009;181(1):13-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02685.x

Caine RS, Yin X, Sloan J, Harrison EL, Mohammed U, Fulton T. Rice with reduced stomatal density conserves water and has improved drought tolerance under future climate conditions. New Phytol. 2019;221(1):371-84. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15344

Chapae C, Songsri P, Gonkhamdee S, Jongrungklang N. Understanding drought responses of sugarcane cultivars controlled under low water potential conditions. Chil J Agric Res. 2020;80(3):370-80. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-58392020000300370

Cao W, Tibbitts TW. Potassium concentration effect on growth, gas exchange and mineral accumulation in potatoes. J Plant Nutr. 1991;14(6):525-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/01904169109364222

Zhang L, Gao M, Li S, Alva AK, Ashraf M. Potassium fertilization mitigates the adverse effects of drought on selected Zea mays cultivars. Turk J Botany. 2014;38(4):713-23. https://doi.org/10.3906/bot-1308-47

da Silva AA, Linhares PCA, de Andrade LIF, Chaves JTL, Barbosa JPRAD, Marchiori PER. Potassium supplementation promotes osmotic adjustment and increases water use efficiency in sugarcane under water deficit. Sugar Tech. 2021;23(5):1075-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-021-00997-1

Raza S, Farrukh SM, Mustafa SG, Jamil M, Haider KI. Potassium applied under drought improves physiological and nutrient uptake performances of wheat (Triticum aestivun L.). J Soil Sci Plant Nutr. 2013;13(1):175-85.

Vu NT, Park M, Kim S, Tran T, Jang DC. Effect of abscisic acid on growth and physiology of arabica coffee seedlings under water deficit condition. Sains Malays. 2020;49(7):1499-508. https://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2020-4907-03

Walker S, Singels A. A quantitative study of water stress effect on sugarcane photosynthesis. In: Proceedings of South African sugar technologists Association; 2006 July 18-20; Durban, South Africa.SouthAfrica: Sasta; 2006.