Methods of determining the drought resistance of plants

Abstract

This article presents methods for determining the drought resistance of plants at different stages of development. To determine drought resistance at the early stages of plant development, when creating breeding material, it is necessary to use the most accessible and common laboratory methods, which include modeling moisture deficit in solutions with increased osmotic pressure, which consists in the ability of germinated seeds of a variety to use low moisture reserves in the soil and predict resistance genotypes to soil moisture deficiency in the early stages of ontogenesis. At various stages of plant vegetation, recently, indirect assessment of drought resistance using physiological methods is becoming increasingly common. The most informative are methods of studying the water regime of leaves, namely: determination of tissue hydration, water deficit and water-holding capacity of leaves. Leaf water loss reflects the water status of plants and is key to their survival in drought conditions. The indicator of water-holding capacity characterizes the plant's ability to resist dehydration for a more or less long time, the length of which depends on its level. The water status of the plant is determined by the water deficit, which is an important indicator of drought resistance. Watering plants indicates that they are supplied with water, which is necessary for the flow of biochemical reactions (that is, for vital activity) and is one of the important indicators of the water regime of plants. The water content in the leaves indicates the attitude of the plants to the lack of moisture. To differentiate genotypes by drought resistance, various selection indices are used, based on the productivity of plants in optimal and stressful conditions for the selection of drought-resistant genotypes.