Amelioration of negative effect of water stress in Cassia angustifolia by benzyladenine and/or ascorbic acid

Abstract

The effect of benzyladenine (BA) and ascorbic acid (AA) on relative water content, proline accumulation, net photosynthetic rate (PN), chlorophyll (Ch1) content and nitrate reductase (NR) activity, under sufficient water supply and moisture stress was studied in senna (Cassia angustifolia Vahl.) at seedling, vegetative, flowering and pod formation stages. AA treatment resulted in a higher accumulation of proline at all the stages of growth. Both BA and AA enhanced PN , Chl content and NR activity, and ameliorate the negative effect of water stress.