Effect of Salicylic Acid and Glycine Betaine Foliar Application on Morpho-Physiological Characteristics of Carla (Momordica charantia L.) under Water Deficit Stress

The effect of salicylic acid and glycine betaine foliar application on morpho-physiological characteristics of Carla (Momordica charantia L.) under water deficit stress, were studied by an experiment as split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications in 2017 at Zanjan University Research Farm. The treatments consisted of three levels of irrigation, 50, 75 and 100% of field capacity as the main factor and two levels of salicylic acid (2 and 4 m M), two levels of glycine betaine (50 and 100 m M) as Sub factors were used. The results showed that the increase in water deficit stress significantly reduced the total chlorophyll content, vitamin C content, seed weight, plant length and number of fruits per plant. But increasing in water deficit stress caused a significant increase in the amount of proline and Ion leakage. The application of salicylic acid and glycine betaine increased the Ion leakage and total chlorophyll content, vitamin C, proline, plant length, number of fruits per plant, but did not have a significant effect on seed weight. In general, due to the fact that the use of salicylic acid and glycine betaine have ability to improve the morphological and physiological traits of treated plants. It seems that application of these treatments can increase Carla tolerance to water deficit stress.