Effect of Putrescine Spray on Date Palm Offshoots of  Mazafati Cultivar under Drought Stress Conditions

Drought is one of the most important environmental stresses affecting fruit trees production. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to test whether the foliar application of putrescine can mitigate the deleterious effect of drought stress in date cv. ‘Mazafati’. The lay out was as a 3 × 3 factorial experiment in a complete randomized design. In order to investigate the effect of different levels of drought stress, to determine the tolerance of ‘Mazafati’ offshoots and also to investigate the effects of foliar application of putrescine, the experiment was performed as factorial based on completely randomized design in a controlled greenhouse. The treatments consisting of control (75% FC), moderate stress (45% FC), and severe stress (15% FC) and three doses of putrescine (0, 1, and 2 mM). Results showed that growth parameters of date palm offshoots were decreased under drought stress condition. Application of putrescine in control offshoots (no stress) improved the growth parameters. It was found that 2 mM concentration of putrescine ameliorate. The adverse effects of injury caused by drought reduced the effects of drought stress. Leaf relative water content, the proline content, enzyme activities (ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and guaiacol peroxidase) were increased by application of 2 mM putrescine while the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) activity was reduced. Also, it was determined that date palm offshoots of ‘Mazafati’ can tolerate the drought stress at 45% FC.