Screening of soybean genotypes against drought stress using morpho-physiological, biochemical and gene based SSR markers
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Abstract
Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill.) contributes 57% of the total oilseed production worldwide. Sustainability of its production is severely challenged by drought, depressing up to 40% of the yield annually. Also, Selection of drought-tolerant varieties based on morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes assisted with genomic approaches is one of the methods to be focused. To overcome this challenge, conventional and genomic approaches together with biochemical assays have been utilized for understanding droughtolerance mechanisms followed by utilization of this information for developing drought-tolerant soybean cultivars. In this experiment, the material was monitored in a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications. Sixty-day-old plants evaluated for various morpho-physiological parameters including biochemical parameters viz.: antioxidant enzyme activities and photosynthetic characteristics of soybean. Furthermore, the changes in photosynthetic and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics, total soluble protein, total sugar and enzymatic activities of sixty soybean genotypes subjected to drought tolerance. The lipid peroxidation contents varied low and high (70.2 ± 1.15 to 120.8 ± 1.67 nmol/g). The highest catalase content and glutathione reductase were exhibited soybean genotypes equal to 0.98 U/mg protein and 0.60 U/mg protein. Significant variation for guaiacol peroxidase (0.37 ± 1.1 to 1.24 ± 0.9 %) and ascorbate peroxidase (0.51 ± 0.46 to 1.48 ± 1.3 %) was detected. Based on antioxidant enzymatic activity, four genotypes namely JS 97-52, NRC-7, EC- 5338828, and EC-602288 may be considered as putative drought tolerant genotypes. These genotypes may be used in advance breeding and biotechnological works to develop drought tolerance/resistant varieties in upcoming days.
