Drought tolerance and thiols molarity in seedlings of two Aegilops accessions

VJOLLCA IBRO¹, ARIOLA BACU², ANXHELA KALOSHI¹, ENKELEDA COKA¹, FRANS KOKOJKA²

¹Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural University of Tirana

²Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana

*Corresponding author e-mail: vibro@ubt.edu.al

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Abstract

Different species of the genus Aegilops, as wild relatives of wheat, are valuable sources of genes for wheat improvement, especially for the tolerance to abiotic stresses as drought and salinity. Thiols are actively involved in the maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis and in plant responses to almost all stresses. The most studied of thiols, glutathione can be found as reduced glutathione (GSH), which is oxidized to a disulphide form (GSSG), which in turn is recycled to GSH by a glutathione reductase. The redox potential of GSH/GSSG, which is responsible for the maintenance of cellular and extracellular homeostasis, is affected not only by the ratio GSH/GSSG, but also on the changes in synthesis and/or degradation of GSH. The recent study compared the seedlings drought tolerance for two Aegilops accessions. Seedlings height, dry weight, first leaf length and leaf dry weight, have been evaluated prior to exposing to drought conditions. The seedlings were grown without irrigation for two weeks, and after that the number of survived seedlings, their fresh and dry matter were evaluated. The GSH content was also measured under controlled conditions, during the first three weeks after germination. For these, seeds were planted in pots with soil in laboratory conditions; GSH content was determined on extracts from stems, roots and leaves based on Ellman’s test. From the results of the data processing via Software (Sigma Plot 13.0), can be concluded that among the two Aegilops accessions do exist significant differences related to seedlings thiol molarity, drought tolerance, biometric parameters, and that the conical ear Aegilops accessions show advantages toward the cylindrical ones.

Key words: Aegilops, conical/ cylindrical ear, thiols, drought tolerance.