Effect of Spermidine on Some Morphophysiological Characteristics of Bermuda_grass (Cynodon dactylon L.) Grown under Drought Stress

Today, water scarcity is a critical issue for most countries in arid and semi-arid regions. Due to the difficulty of establishing and maintaining grass in arid areas and in order to investigate the effects of drought and spermidine on Cynodon dactylon L., an experiment was conducted with a double-split plot design based on randomized complete blocks. Treatments included three levels of irrigation: 100% field capacity (without stress), 75% field capacity (moderate drought stress) and 50% field capacity (severe drought stress) and spermidine in three concentrations of 0, 0.5 and 1 mM. During the stress period, the trend of changing the contents of chlorophyll, proline, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, catalase and peroxidase enzymes and growth parameters (fresh and dry weight of shoot and root) was examined at 15-day intervals. The results showed that drought stress decreased shoot fresh weight and increased electrolyte leakage, proline content, lipid peroxidation and peroxidase activity. Spermidine increased chlorophyll content (a, b and total) and decreased contents of proline, lipid peroxidation and peroxidase activity. In general, the results showed that spermidine pre-treatment can alleviate the negative effects of drought stress and increase tolerance of Cynodon dactylon L. to drought stress.