Morphological and Biochemical Assessment of Basella alba Linn. and Basella rubra Roxb under Drought Stress

Abstract

This research investigated the biochemical and morphological responses of Basella alba and B. rubra to drought stress. The research was performed in the screen house, sandy-loamy soil was collected and four levels of drought regime was used as treatment and a control experiment was set up for the two vegetables. Drought interval of 5, 10, 15 and 20 days were used as treatments while a control experiment which was not starved of water at any point. Five replicates were set up for each treatment. The stress was introduced at 12 Weeks after planting (WAP). Results showed that reduction in selected morphological characteristics. Number of leaves per pot (4.33), plant height (10.76cm), leaf area (12.87m²m^?2) and stem girth (0.72cm) were higher in the control than in the drought-exposed groups. For the index of tolerance (STI), the shoot fresh weight STI at day 5 (152.50%) was observed to be higher, the root fresh weight STI 5(151.00%) and 10(34.05%) significantly (p<0.05) increased when compared with day 15 (32.05%) and 20 (31.70%); in Basella rubra, the stomata of the control group are few compared to other treatments both at the adaxial and the abaxial surface (75.75; 70.37) of the leaf. There was increase in carotene levels for both plants after 20 days exposure. The study revealed the variation in the ability of these two vegetables to survive various water shortage regime which explains why the vegetables goes into hibernation during extreme drought, it also showed water stress effects on the biochemical contents of these vegetables.