Blue light and ethylene modulate the quality of Moringa oleifera seedlings under abiotic stresses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-21252026v3915250rcKeywords:
Water Stress. Irradiation. Chloroplast pigments.Abstract
Moringa oleifera Lam. is a strategic crop in the Brazilian semi-arid region due to its moderate tolerance to abiotic stresses and nutritional value. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the effect of seed priming with ethylene under monochromatic blue light on mitigating water and heat stress in M. oleifera seedlings. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, in a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial scheme, with two levels of water replacement (50% and 100%), two temperatures (30/25 °C and 40/35 °C day/night), and three seed priming treatments (NP - non-primed; PB - blue light; and PBE - ethylene + blue light). Isolated heat stress (40/35 °C) reduced growth but increased chlorophyll and carotenoid content. Under water stress (30 °C), the PBE treatment resulted in seedlings 6.55% taller than the control. Under combined stress conditions (50% and 40/35 °C), PBE priming resulted in higher levels of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoids, with increases of 26.78%, 21.72%, 24.56%, and 14.13%, respectively, compared to non-primed seedlings. Furthermore, seedings subjected to PBE showed the highest Dickson Quality Index (1.98) under combined stress, surpassing those under PB. Seed priming with monochromatic blue light combined with ethylene (PBE) is an efficient strategy to mitigate the deleterious effects of combined water and heat stress, favoring the photosynthetic apparatus and the quality of M. oleifera seedlings.
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