Effects of Drought Stress and Rewatering on some Morphological and Physiological Properties of Three Grapevine Cultivars

Most plants have developed morphological and physiological mechanisms which allow them to cope with drought stress. Almost all the studies conducted on grapevines (Vitisvinifera L.) responses to drought conditions have focused on physiological responses such as stomatal reactions, photosynthesis and osmotic adjustment, and biochemical responses like carbohydrates and proline. According to these studies, physiological and biochemical responses of grapevines to water stress are quite variable. This variability could be related to cultivar, time of the year, previous water stress level, intensity of stress, and environmental conditions. Osmotic adjustment in terms of compatible solutes accumulation has been considered as an important physiological adaptation for plant to resist drought, which facilitates the extraction of water from dry soils and maintenance of cell turgor, gas exchange and growth in very dry environments. Acting as compatible solutes as well as antioxidants, a significant rise in proline amount was observed in grapevine leaves under water stress conditions, suggesting that this amino acid has a protective role against the formation of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS). Plants, in order to overcome oxidative stress, have developed enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense mechanisms against scavenge ROS.
This research was conducted to assess the effect of different levels of irrigation on some characteristics of three cultivars of grapevine (Yaghooti, Bidanesefid and Askari), as a factorial based on a randomized complete block design in two years with four replications. The experiment started in June 21, 2014 and 2015. Water treatments were applied in four levels including: control plant (100% FC), moderate stress (60% FC), severe stress (30% FC) and rewatering treatment after severe stress treatment. Increase height, leaf number, stem diameter, leaf fresh and dry weight, stem dry weight, chlorophyll index,RWC, electrolyte leakage, soluble sugar, antioxidant activity, phenolic compound and proline were measured at the end of the experiment. JMP8 software was used to test the significant differences among the treatments and the interactions. When there were significant differences, means were separated by Tukey HSD test at the probability level p