Ameliorative effect of calcium chloride on growth, anatomy and biochemistry of water deficit stressed spinach plant

One of the major problems faced by agricultural sector all over the world is water scarcity. Water deficit stress in plants results in changes in the physiological, morphological, biochemical and molecular traits. Although water deficit stress has been reported to causes change in various parameters of many plants, but neither studied in Indian green leafy vegetable Spinacia oleracea nor have the mitigating effects of calcium chloride treatment been assessed. So, the present project was carried out with the objective to study the effect of water deficit condition on the growth performance of S. oleracea and the effect of calcium chloride treatment on morphology, anatomy, biochemistry and molecular regulation. Seeds of S. oleracea was allowed to germinate and grown for 7 days with normal irrigation and then divided into three groups (Group-1: Plants irrigated with normal conditions, Group-2: Created water deficit stress by low-frequency of water irrigation and Group-3: Water deficit stress induced plants treated with calcium chloride). Some morphological, anatomical and biochemical parameters were affected under the stress condition in S. oleracea and calcium chloride treatment was found to be ineffective. The results revealed that the number of leaves per plant (1.00–2.67), leaf size (1.36 × 0.53 cm), root length (3 cm), chlorophyll content (0.50–0.70 mg/g leaf) and superoxide dismutase activity (51.95 units/100 mg of leaf protein) were significantly decreased in water deficit stress exposed plants when compared to the control. Calcium chloride treatment improved the morphological characters like number of leaves (2.67–4), root length (3.10 cm), soluble sugar content (16.12 mg/g leaf) and anatomical features in S. oleracea plants. These results led to the conclusion that S. oleracea is sensitive to water deficit stress, and that CaCl₂ was moderately effective in mitigating the stress based on majority of the studied parameters. Hence, such treatment strategies could be improved and explored to overcome water deficit stress and also to improve the production of nutritionally important leafy vegetable S. oleracea.