Characterization of spider plant (Cleome gynandra L.) accessions from diverse agroecological regions for morphological and physiological traits associated with nitrogen deficiency tolerance

The selection of indigenous crops that are high-yielding with sub-optimal soil nitrogen fertilizer must be prioritized. This is crucial for attaining sustainable food production since it lessens dependency on chemical fertilizers, reduces their negative effects on the environment and enhances resource use efficiency. These efforts will boost productivity and mitigate against the adverse effects of climate change. The present study evaluated 25 spider plant genotypes for their growth, economic yield and leaf photosynthetic physiological parameters at low and optimum N levels during their vegetative and reproductive growth stages. Through principal component analysis (PCA) using nitrogen stress tolerance indices, genotype ranking using best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP), cluster analysis using dendrogram and Pearson's correlation analysis, the performance of 25 genotypes under low N stress was evaluated. Parameters such as plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, economic yield, fresh weight and leaf photosynthetic physiological indicators were considered as the evaluation criteria for N deficiency tolerance. Although genotypes have shown varying tendencies in growth, yield and leaf photosynthetic indicators under N stress, N-tolerant genotypes (NC05015, ODS15103 and ODS15044) exhibited higher levels of these activities compared to N stress-sensitive genotypes (KSI2407A, ODS15020 and TOT8926). This study offers a reliable and comprehensive method for evaluating nitrogen deficiency tolerance in spider plants andour data elucidate potential physiological adaptive mechanisms that allow spider plants to withstand N stress. Future studies should explore the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying nitrogen deficiency tolerance, focusing on key nitrogen uptake and assimilation genes. Incorporating advanced biotechnological tools and multi-environment trials will enhance the development of resilient spider plant genotypes for production in diverse agroecological conditions.