محمد هدایت

Among the environmental stresses, drought is one of the most severe stresses for the growth and productivity of plants. The loss of inflammation, stomatal closure and growth loss are due to the effects of drought stress on plants. One of the ways to manage drought stress is to store water in the root environment. Super absorbent polymers are swollen in the presence of water, and in the absence of it they will be wrinkled and small. These polymers store irrigation water and wrinkle during water shortages and moisturize their surroundings. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of superabsorbent polymer on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of pepper (Capsicum annum L.) under drought stress conditions. This research was carried out as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications in a pot. Factors included superabsorbent polymer at four levels of 0, 1.5, 3, 5 and 7 grams per each kilogram of soil and drought stress at four levels of 40, 60, 80 and 100 percent of field capacity. Seedlings were grown in substrates that were prepared according to superabsorbent treatment and two weeks of drought stress was applied to them afterward. The result evaluation of variance analysis of simple effect of drought stress on fresh and dry weight of shoot and root, bush height, root volume and length, crown diameter, number of shoots, yield, chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, ion leakage, leaf relative water, proline, vitamin C, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium at 1% level and calcium and nitrogen content at 5% level, was significant. Simple effects of superabsorbent on fresh and dry weight of shoot and root, bush height, root volume and length, crown diameter, number of shoots, chlorophyll a, ion leakage, proline, vitamin C, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium content at 1% level and the amount of nitrogen was significant at 5% level. The effect of drought stress on superabsorbent traits of shoot and root fresh weig