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Soybean is a legume crop enriched with proteins and oil. It is frequently exposed to anthropogenic and natural flooding that limits its growth and yield. Current study applied gel-free proteomic techniques to unravel soybean response mechanism to flooding stress. Two-days-old soybeans were flooded for 4 days continuously and root samples were collected at days 2 to 6 for proteomic and enzymatic analyses. Age-matched untreated soybeans were collected as control. After protein extraction, purification and tryptic digestion, the peptides were analyzed on nano-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. A total of 539 and 472 proteins with matched peptides 2 or more were identified in control and flooded seedlings, respectively. Among these 364 proteins were commonly identified in both control and flooded soybeans. Fourty-two protein's abundances were changed 4-fold after 2-days of flooding stress as compared to starting point. The cluster analysis showed that highly increased proteins included cupin family proteins, enolase, pectin methylesterase inhibitor, glyoxalase II, alcohol dehydrogenase and aldolase. The enzyme assay of enolase and pectin methylesterase inhibitor confirmed protein abundance changes. These findings suggest that soybean adopts the less energy consuming strategies and brings biochemical and structural changes in the cell wall to effectively respond to flooding stress and for the survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abiotic stress, especially a lack of water, can significantly reduce crop yields. In this study, we evaluated the physiological and biochemical effects of potassium sulfate (K2SO4) fertilizer and varied irrigation regimes on the economically significant oilseed crop, Brassica juncea L, under open field conditions. Two cultivars (RH-725 and RH-749) of B. juncea were used in a randomized complete block design experiment with three replicates. Irrigation regimes consisted of a control (double irrigation: once at the 50% flowering and another at 50% fruiting stages), early irrigation (at 50% flowering only), late irrigation (at 50% fruiting only) and stress (no irrigation). The K2SO4 applications were: control (K0, no fertilization); K1, 10 kg ha−1; and K2, 20 kg ha−1. We measured growth via fresh and dry plant weight, plant height, root length, and leaf area. All the growth parameters were higher in RH-749. The physiological attributes, including the membrane stability index and relative water content, were higher at the 50% flowering stage in RH-749. The amount of antioxidant enzymes (catalase (CAT), guaiacol peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) was enhanced when both plants were fertilized during water stress. All of these enzymes had higher activity in RH-749. The total chlorophyll content and photosynthesis rate were considerably higher in RH-749, which leaked fewer electrolytes and maintained a less destructive osmotic potential under limited water conditions. The results indicated that it is water-stress tolerant when given a high concentration of K2SO4, which alleviated the adverse effects of water stress on growth and physiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many phytochemicals can affect the growth and development of plants and insects which can be used as biological control agents. In this study, different concentrations of crude, hexane, chloroform, butanol, and aqueous extracts of Euphorbia nivulia Buch.-Ham., an endemic plant of the Cholistan desert in South Punjab of Pakistan, were analysed for their chemical constituents. Their various concentrations were also tested for their phytotoxic and insecticidal potential against duckweed, Lemna minor L., and the dusky cotton bug, Oxycarenus hyalinipennis Costa. various polyphenols, i.e., quercetin, gallic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and cinnamic acid were detected in different concentrations with different solvents during the phytochemical screening of E. nivulia. In the phytotoxicity test, except for 100 μg/mL of the butanol extract gave 4.5% growth regulation, no phytotoxic lethality could be found at 10 and 100 μg/mL of all the extracts. The highest concentration, 1000 μg/mL, of the chloroform, crude, and butanol extracts showed 100, 63.1, and 27.1% of growth inhibition in duckweed, respectively. In the insecticidal bioassay, the highest O. hyalinipennis mortalities (87 and 75%) were recorded at 15% concentration of the chloroform and butanol extracts of E. nivulia. In contrast, the lower concentrations of the E. nivulia extracts caused the lower mortalities. Altogether, these findings revealed that E. nivulia chloroform extracts showed significant phytotoxicity while all the extracts showed insecticidal potential. This potential can be, further, refined to be developed for bio-control agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]