Analysis of morphological responses of drought stress oil palm in nursery phase

Abstract

Oil palm is one of drought sensitive crops. Therefore, drought tolerance and water-use efficient oil palm planting material are needed to produce optimally in a climate-changing condition. One of the methods to see plant responses to drought in the nursery stage is using the Fraction to Transpiration Soil Water (FTSW) method. This method is based on observations of plant transpiration conditions. FTSW method describes the soil and plant moisture condition based on the amount of water transpired by plants. This research arranged with Randomized Block Design (RBD) replicated three times with two factors (three FTSW levels such as 0.1; 0.4; and 0.15) and six oil palm varieties such as DxP Simalungun, DxP PPKS 540, DxP Yangambi, DxP PPKS 239, DxP PPKS 718 and DyxP Dumpy and aimed to determine plant response to drought stress. The result showed that FTSW0 (permanent wilting point) was obtained on day 40. Drought stress treatment (FTSW 0.4 and 0.15) showed significant differences in the parameters of plant height and number of leaves. Among all oil palm varieties, DyxP Dumpy, DxP Simalungun, and DxP PPKS 239 represented a better performance than DxP PPKS 540, DxP Yangambi and DxP Langkat.

Morphology of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Seedlings Under Drought Stress with Oil Palm Shell Ash and Aspergillus niger treatment

“…Oil palm seedling that produce more photosynthate tend to grow better, the accumulated photosynthate is used to grow and develop by forming organs or tissues; plants with a higher rate of photosynthesis tend to produce more leaves. The results of photosynthesis greatly affect the ability of plants to growth and develop, especially in the smallest structures, such as plant cells; acceleration of cell division will affect growth such as plant height and the formation of young leaves; the more severe the drought stress, the more stunted its growth and development [13].…”

“…Plants maintain their growth point and new leaves, particularly spear leaf, old leaves wither due to drought stress, The rate of leaf growth is related to increasing height and diameter; this component is a component of plant biomass. The addition of leaves is more stable if the seedlings are kept in good conditions with plenty of water, light, and moisture [13].…”

Reactions of Drought-Affected Oil Palm Variety Seedlings during the Nursery Phase: Bud and Root Responses

“…Drought stress bring on decrease in the rate of cell division, the rate of CO2 absorption, nutrient uptake, [2] [3], stomatal conductance, increase of proline content [4] [5] and decreased chlorophyll content [6] [3]. Drought also causes decrease in plant water content, decrease in the rate of photosynthesis, decrease in the production of dry matter (dry matter) and stunted growth both the seedling and mature plants [7] [8].…”