The effect of metabolism in response to water stress in Parthenium argentatum Gray

Since the relationship between soil and water status of plants and its effect on growth, propagation and metabolism process, the effect of water stress on Parthenium argetatum, was investigated. Irrigation treatments were selected based on different percentage of field capacity (FC), including (1)a control sample which was irrigated to full field capacity during the growing season (FC), (2) two moderate water stress treatments (LS1=75% and LS2=50% of field capacity) and (3) severe water stress treatments (HS=25% of field capacity). Results showed that plant RWC (relative water content) decreased from 65.8% to 42.8%. Also water stress induced high amount of sugar and proline. The amount of sugar was the highest in sever treatment (HS=2.9 mg/g FW) while it was the least in FC treatment (1.07 mg/g FW). The amount of proline was the highest in sever treatment (HS= 4.28 mM) while it changed from 1.1 in LS1, 1.56 in LS2 and the least (0.96 mM) in FC treatments.