ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1591920
This article is part of the Research TopicInsights on Agricultural Modulators for Mitigating Water Stress in Cultivated PlantsView all 8 articles
Chitosan mitigates water stress in cowpea plants through modulation of growth, homeostasis, and antioxidant activities
Provisionally accepted
Rayanne Silva de Alencar1Priscylla Marques de Oliveira Viana1Guilherme Felix Dias1Semako Ibrahim Bonou2Leticia Diniz Ribeiro1Yngrid Mikhaelly Lourenço1Igor Eneas Cavalcante1Herms Alves de Almeida1Pedro Roberto Almeida Viegas1
Alberto Soares de Melo1*- 1State University of Paraíba, Campina Grande, Brazil
- 2Federal University of Campina Grande, Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil
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Climate change and population growth are increasing the demand for food, especially in the semiarid areas. This problem highlights the need to develop technologies that improve tolerance to abiotic stresses such as water deficit, which currently limits cowpea yield. Thus, foliar application of chitosan to cowpeas can enhance tolerance and boost antioxidant activity under water deficits, leading to better plant growth. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of chitosan foliar application in alleviating water stress in cowpeas (cv. BRS Olhonegro) under different irrigation levels. The experiment was conducted in a growth chamber using a completely randomized design. Three concentrations of chitosan (0, 50, and 75 mg L-1) were tested at varying irrigation depths (W100: 100% and W50: 50% replacement of plants evapotranspiration). At phenological stages V5 and V7, several assessments were carried out, including water status and membrane damage evaluation, leaf pigment analysis, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activity measurement, growth evaluation, and water use efficiency determination. The cultivar exhibited a significant response to the foliar application of chitosan. In conclusion, applying chitosan to the leaves mitigated the adverse effects of water stress on cowpea plants by maintaining water balance, preserving photosynthetic pigments, enhancing antioxidant mechanisms, and providing osmoprotection for the crop.
Keywords: Chitosan, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp., biopolymer, Water restriction, Antioxidant mechanism, Osmoprotection
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 15 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alencar, Viana, Dias, Bonou, Ribeiro, Lourenço, Cavalcante, Almeida, Viegas and Melo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Alberto Soares de Melo, State University of Paraíba, Campina Grande, Brazil
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