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Received Oct 14, 2017; Revised Mar 14, 2018; Accepted Apr 1, 2018
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1. Introduction
Climate change, a global phenomenon, has an adverse effect on crop production. Increased reiteration of extreme weather is implicated in the rapid climate change [1]. These abiotic stress factors restrain plants from reaching out to their maximum potential, thereby limiting crop productivity. As an extreme event, drought has become a significant problem affecting global plant production. Alongside, intensification of anthropogenic activities eventuated in radical depletion of water availability for agricultural practices. By the year 2100, the frequency and intensity of drought may increase from 1% to 30% with respect to global warming, which is increasing at an alarming rate [2]. Globally drought has predominantly reduced maize (11.6%), wheat (9.2%), and soybean (33.1–12.2%) productions [3]. There exists distinctive drought trend and frequencies in different regions of India [4]. By the years 2050–2099, drought events were expected to project in west central, central northeast, and peninsular regions of India [5]. In India, effects of drought are exacerbated because of deviated monsoon [6], groundwater depletion [7], and increasing population [8].
Crop experiences drought when water transpiration rate exceeds with absorption rate or when the supply of water to the roots is interrupted. Plants respond and adapt to water stress invariably by complex mechanisms inducing various morphological, biochemical, physiological, and molecular aspects resulting in either drought avoidance or drought escape or drought tolerance and the mechanism is highly varied among the plant species [9]. Water stress results in the excessive production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), leading to oxidative stress [10]. ROS in plant system leads to membrane damage and many other changes, eventually leading to programmed cell death [11]. Both enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant defense mechanisms of the plant system coordinate and alleviate oxidative damage in cell. Thus plants with abundant antioxidants were considered to possess superior tolerance towards oxidative damage.
Chilli (Capsicum annuum L) is an important horticultural crop and it has huge diversity and cultivated widely for its pungent fruits. It is considered as a significant commercial crop due to...