​​Morpho-physiological and Biochemical Changes under Drought Stress in Strawberry: A Review

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the most important environmental stress that affects plant growth and development. Strawberry plants are very sensitive to drought stress due to its herbaceous nature and shallow root system. Depending upon the nature, intensity, duration and cultivars, the effect of this stress augments losses in yield and quality of the fruits. This optimization of yield loss and quality is due to the response of the plant to the stress with the changes in morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular attributes. Drought stress results in the change of leaf anatomy, leaf area, transpiration rate, photosynthesis, stomata closure, relative water content (RWC), shoot length, root length etc. ROS such as H2O2 production occurs as a result of drought causing oxidative damage to the plant cells. Strawberry plant on the other hand have a mechanism to detoxify these ROS with the production of both the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), gluthathione, ascorbic acid, tocopherols, carotenoids etc.