Drought resistance evaluation of sugar beet germplasms by response of phenotypic indicators

ABSTRACT

Sugar beet is a main sugar crop worldwide that often faces drought stress. The identification of drought tolerance of sugar beet germplasms is beneficial for breeding, but the research about it has been rarely reported. In this study, the drought tolerance of germplasms 92005-1, 94002-2 and 92021-1-1 was tested under simulated conditions. Seven days and 9% PEG treatment were the optimal conditions for evaluation, under which more phenotypic indicators showed significant difference in drought tolerance coefficient. The objective weighting and membership function method were established for evaluating the drought tolerance of different sugar beet germplasms. Drought stress decreased the biomass of leaves and roots of sugar beet germplasms. The drought-sensitive germplasm responded faster for leaf weight, root weight, plant height and root length. These indicators declined more significantly under long-term and severe stress. Increasing the root–shoot ratio and proline content were universal strategies of sugar beet germplasms to overcome drought stress. The drought-tolerant germplasms held higher peroxidase activity and better ability to scavenge reactive oxygen for preventing the damage.

KEYWORDS:

• sugar beet germplasms
• drought tolerance evaluation
• phenotypic indicators
• response

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Sugar Beet Germplasm Resources Platform (NCGRC-2021-017); the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas programme (19210157); the Identification, Evaluation, Cataloging and Warehousing of Sugar Beet Germplasm Resources programme (19210911); the Safe Preservation of Sugar Beet Germplasm Resources (19211031); the National sugar industry technology system project (CARS-170102); the Scientific Research Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Heilongjiang Province (2020-KYYWF-1049).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2023.2192570

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Sugar Beet Germplasm Resources Platform [NCGRC-2021-017]; Scientific Research Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Heilongjiang Province [2020-KYYWF-1049]; National sugar industry technology system project [CARS-170102]; Identification, Evaluation, Cataloging and Warehousing of Sugar Beet Germplasm Resources programme [19210911]; Safe Preservation of Sugar Beet Germplasm Resources [19211031]; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas programme [19210157].