Biochemical traits to classify genotype by drought tolerance in legumes

POSADA G; COSTAMAGNA CA; MONTEOLIVA MI; GUZZO MC

Congreso; XXXIII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Fisiologia Vegetal; 2021

Drought is one of the main limitations for agriculture in Argentina,specially for legumes such as soybean and peanut. However, the direct selectionof tolerant genotypes on the fields required long periods of time due to theunpredictability of the environmental conditions. Our group use an alternativeapproach to classify the genotypes in controlled conditions at early stages,which are then validated on the fields. Additionally, we use different traitsto evaluate and monitor the genotypes under a controlled drought, such asproline (compatible osmolyte which accumulated under dehydration), andchlorophylls (photosynthetic pigments which has been correlated to higheryields under stress for several crops). We aim to develop strategies to reducebreeding times for legumes. Seeds were provided by the EEA Marcos Juarez andCriadero El Carmen germplasm banks, for soybean and peanut, respectively. We grewthe plants in a greenhouse and exposed the plant to a controlled drought (30%for soybean and 15% for peanut) at early developmental stages (3rdor 6th leaves respectively). Here we report how proline,chlorophylls and antioxidant ability, as well as some morphological traits areuseful to classify soybean and peanut genotypes according to their droughttolerance.