Author(s)

Hrishikesh Upadhyaya, Biman K. Dutta, Lingaraj Sahoo, Sanjib K. Panda

Department of Bio-technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India.
Microbial and Agricultural Ecology Laboratory, Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Assam (Central) University, Silchar, India.
Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, Assam (Central) University, Silchar, India.

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is one of the most important economic crops. Being perennial in nature, tea plant often experiences natural drought, which affects its growth and productivity. The present investigation was undertaken to understand the mechanism of post-drought stress recovery on rehydration and the effect of nutrients in the recovery process of the selected clones of Camellia sinensis L. (TV-1, TV-20, TV-29 & TV-30). The results demonstrated that decrease in relative water content (RWC), dry mass of leaf and antioxidants like-ascorbate and glutathione in all the tested clones, as a result of imposed water stress, which caused damage was not permanent. Increase in phenolic content with decrease in O₂^-, H₂O₂ and lipid peroxidation was indication of the recovery of stress induced oxidative damage following the post stress rehydration. Further, the post drought recovery was enhanced by foliar spray of K, Ca, Mn & B. Differential activities of enzymes like SOD, CAT, POX, GR and PPO in response to foliar spray of nutrients in rehydrated plant improved the recovery process. The present study reveals that the tested nutrients (K, Ca, Mn & B) showed some positive response in influencing growth and antioxidative responses during post drought recovery process, where K and Ca showed comparatively better effect in improving post drought recovery potential in tea plant.

Drought; Post Drought Recovery (PDR); Calcium; Potassium; Boron; Manganese; Camellia sinensis (Tea)

H. Upadhyaya, B. Dutta, L. Sahoo and S. Panda, "Comparative Effect of Ca, K, Mn and B on Post-Drought Stress Recovery in Tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O Kuntze]," American Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 3 No. 4, 2012, pp. 443-460. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2012.34054.