Evaluation of biochemical markers for managing drought stress tolerance in a valuable endangered medicinal plant Withania somnifera

Abstract

In four genotypes of W.somnifera namely J-20, Nimitly, Chetak and Pratap MDA content, electrolyte leakage and proline content of callus were studied under drought stress ( on agar solidified media containing 10, 20 &30g/l polyethylene glycol). Data for each parameter was taken at three time interval i.e.15, 30 & 45 days after inoculation. MDA content, % EL as well as proline content was found to be increased with increasing conc. of PEG i.e. 1%, 2% and 3% PEG in MS media. Maximum MDA content was calculated by Jawahar -20 i.e. 0.141 µmol/mg while Nimitly showed minimum (0.044 µmol/mg) MDA content. Maximum proline content i.e. 3.76 µmol/g was recorded by genotype Nimitly while minimum by Pratap i.e. 2.98 µmol/g. Thus selection and use of the genotypes with higher proline and low MDA content under drought stress may be a practical approach to improve drought tolerance.