Effect of different levels of deficit-irrigation on proline changes and antioxidant enzymes in Narcissus indigenous population (Narcissus tazetta L. var. Shahla)

Abstract

Narcissus is one of the main ornamental bulbous plants in temperate regions, which is widely produced as a garden plant, cut flower and also as a pot plant. Cultivar selection is important for all of these, and wild species are important not only for species conservation but also for breeders. To select drought tolerant Shahla populations, an experiment was carried out in a complete randomized design with factorial arrangements, each treatment with three replications and two observations in 16 populations and in 4 deficit-irrigation levels. Treatments were applied by weight method (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of field capacity) and biochemical studies were performed on them. The results showed that in general narcissus is not drought tolerant. Under severe stress, none of the genotypes entered the reproductive stage, and under moderate stress, the highest number of flowers and flowering stem length was observed in Behbahan population, which shows the superiority of this population over the others. Jahrom population can also be used under drought stress conditions in green space due to short flowering stems.