Physiological, Morphological and Biochemical Response of Potatoes in Facing Drought Stress

Abstract This study aims to explain the morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) tolerant and sensitive potato to drought stress in vitro and in vivo . To achieve the objectives of the in vitro study, single book explants from five genotypes were cultured for six weeks on MS medium with 0.2 M sorbitol added, after the leaves were harvested and then the proline content was analyzed. In vivo research was carried out drying for 21 days when the plants were 25 DAP and for 14 days when the plants were 50 DAP and then re-irrigated until harvest. The results showed that the physiological response in the form of proline content of the in vitro cultured genotypes was not significantly different. Physiological and morphological responses in vivo showed that the stomatal density of 25 days of age and 50 days of drought trichome density did not differ between tolerant and sensitive genotypes, where the Granola genotype had the highest relative increase in both characters. Genotypes PKHT6 and PKHT10 decreased the density of dry stomata at 25 days of age, while PKHT4 and Atlantik decreased the density of dry trichomes at 50 days of age. The character of 50-day drought leaf area between tolerant and sensitive plants was different, where the Atlantic sensitive genotypes and Granola increased leaf area while PKHT4 and PKHT6 tolerant genotypes decreased leaf area. The PKHT4 tolerant genotype decreased leaf greenness, while the PKHT6 tolerant genotype increased leaf greenness. The conclusion of this study is that the physiological and morphological responses of the characters tested in this study cannot be used as selection characters, they can only explain the mechanism of plant response in the face of drought stress.