Effects of drought stress on morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of stock plant (Matthiola incana L.)

The allocation of new water resources to grow ornamental plants, especially in arid and semi-arid areas has usually faced numerous problems. Therefore, it is essential to study and select tolerant ornamental plants for use in these areas. This study was carried out in a completely randomized block design with five irrigation levels; 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100% of field capacity, using a surface irrigation system for two cultivars of stock flower (Matthiola incana L.), i.e., PanAmerican and Cinderella. The results showed that, although the number of flowers in Cinderella cultivar and relative water content in PanAmerican did not change significantly with increasing drought stress, plant height, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, and root dry weight significantly decreased in both cultivars (P < 0.01). Results also revealed that the changes in chlorophyll content and some biochemical properties of both cultivars including catalase enzyme activity, anthocyanin content, phenolic compounds, and proline content were statistically significant (P < 0.01) due to moderate and severe drought stress. In general, the results of this study indicate that drought stress has undesirable effects on morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics of stock plants and therefore, their irrigation should be carefully controlled.