Investigation of some physiologial changes of Solanum muricatum Ait. plant against drought stress

this study the effects of drought stress in Solanum muricatum Ait. seedlings in natural greenhouse conditions in Adiyaman was investigated. The control plants were watered at field capacity but the stress group wasn?t watered. The samples were taken from the leaves of S. muricatum seedlings exposed to drought stress on the 0th, 6th, 12th, 24th and 36th day and in these samples relative water content, total phenolic compounds malondialdehyde (MDA), proline and total photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids) contents were determined. In the stress group depending on days relative water content, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a / b ratio were found to be lower than the control group. And also it was determined that the amount of total phenolic compounds and proline increased in comparison to the control group. The increase in phenolic compounds on the 24th and 36th day and the increase in proline on 12th, 24th and 36th day were found to be significant. A significant increase was determined among MDA contents in comparison to the control group on the 36th day. Key Words: Photosynthetic pigments, Phenolic compounds, Drought stress, Malondialdehyde, Proline, Solanum muricatum Ait.