| dc.description.abstract | The nutritional and economic value of bananas (Musa spp.) makes them one
of the most important fruit crops globally and highly valued. Banana plants have
extensive root systems for water and nutrient uptake but are highly susceptible to
drought stress, which affects the plant's growth, physiological performance, as well
as productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of different watering
frequencies: watering 8x/month (L1), 4x/month (L2), 2x/month (L3), 1x/month
(L4), on the morphophysiological responses and drought tolerance of three Musa
genotypes, including Cavendish (V1), Tanduk (V2), and Pisang Awak (CV3), was
investigated, in experiment one, while experiment two was the continuation of the
selected drought treatment (L3) to test wild banana (Musa acuminata) genotype
tolerance.
The experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions using a nested
experimental design with three replications. Four watering frequencies were
imposed over two months: eight times per month (L1, well-watered control), four
times per month (L2), twice per month (L3), and once per month (L4). Watering
frequency was treated as the main factor, while genotype was nested within each
watering treatment. Morphological parameters, including plant height, leaf number,
pseudostem diameter, biomass, root length, root number, and leaf area, were
measured together with physiological characteristics such as photosynthetic rate,
stomatal conductance, intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), chlorophyll
fluorescence, chlorophyll content, stomatal density, and relative water content.
Biochemical indicators, including malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline content, as
well as plant survival percentage, were also determined.
Results show that frequency of watering had a dramatic impact on most of
the morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics. Plants subjected
to L3 and L4 were severely impacted by drought, experiencing low growth, reduced
biomass accumulation, low photosynthetic activity, and inadequate chlorophyll
fluorescence compared to plants grown under L1 and L2. Different genetic varieties
responded to moderate drought differently. When the stress was moderate (L3),
Pisang Awak (V3) performed better according to morphological attributes, while
Cavendish (V1) did considerably well when well-watered (L1). When stressed by
drought (L4), Pisang Tanduk (V2) performed better than Cavendish (V1) in
physiological processes, whereas all three varieties behaved similarly under L3.
Among the tested treatments, treatment L3, watering twice a month, was
found to be the most effective in inducing drought stress in the bananas and was
suitable for evaluating drought tolerance. Under treatment L3, visible drought
symptoms in the plants were observed three to four weeks after treatment.
Keywords: chlorophyll fluorescence, malondialdehyde, net photosynthesis,
proline, relative water content | |
