Proline and soluble sugars accumulation in the leaves of Pisum sativum L. in response to substrate water content

Abstract

Among the environmental stresses, drought stress is one of the most adverse factors of plant growth and productivity. This study was carried out to evaluate influence of substrate humidity on proline and soluble sugars levels in the leaves of pea. The proline and soluble sugars content did not change very much in control plants during the entire period of investigation, while in drought treated plants, proline content increased dramatically as well as soluble sugars level. Relative water content of leaves was about 64% under control condition, while the drought treatment caused a decrease in RWC to 15%. The correlation-regression analysis of our data revealed a very strong relationship between substrate water content and proline content as well as between peat water content and soluble sugar content in leaves.