Journal of Contemporary Agriculture and Bioscience
Morpho-Molecular Characterization of Capsicum annuum L; Drought-Responsive Traits under PEG-treated Hydroponic Conditions
Received: 14 August, 2026 || Accepted: 02 September, 2026 || Published: 10 September, 2026
A b s t r a c t
Drought stress significantly limits Capsicum annuum L. production in Bangladesh, particularly during the rabi season, highlighting the need to understand adaptive mechanisms for developing climate-resilient cultivars. This study investigated drought-induced changes in root architecture at the phytomer level and associated physiological and molecular responses among 13 Bangladeshi Capsicum genotypes. Plants were grown hydroponically and exposed to PEG-8000-induced osmotic stress (0%, 0.3%, and 0.6% w/v) during the reproductive stage (R2) under a completely randomized design. Severe stress (0.6% PEG) reduced root hair length and diameter by approximately 48% and 52%, respectively (p < 0.001), resulting in an estimated 8.5-fold reduction in root absorptive surface area. However, tolerant genotypes, particularly Pasarella RZ F1 and BARI Capsicum 1, maintained superior phytomer integrity, showing only a 3.7% reduction in Pr2 axis length compared with 28% in the susceptible Alexander F1 genotype. Pasarella RZ F1 exhibited enhanced drought adaptation through increased abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation (23.2%; 8.2 ± 0.6 to 10.1 ± 0.8 ng g⁻¹ FW; p < 0.05), which was strongly associated with stomatal regulation (r = −0.82). Elevated ascorbate levels (40%) contributed to oxidative stress protection, while glutathione remained stable. The CA12 marker carrying the 180 bp allele showed strong associations with root robustness (φ = 0.87, p = 0.003) and ABA accumulation (φ = 0.79, p = 0.01). These findings reveal that drought tolerance in C. annuum is governed by coordinated root, physiological, and genetic mechanisms, and highlight CA12-linked traits as promising targets for marker-assisted breeding of drought-resilient pepper cultivars.
Keywords: Capsicum annuum; drought tolerance; root architecture; phytomer; ABA signaling; oxidative stress; PEG-8000; marker-assisted breeding.
Copyright information: Copyright © 2026 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
How to cite: Bayazid,K.N., Ferdous, J., Mahmud, Q.M., Bir, M.S.H. and Ullah, M.A. 2026. Morpho-molecular characterization of Capsicum annuum L; drought-responsive traits under PEG-treated hydroponic conditions, Journal of Contemporary Agriculture and Bioscience 3(1), 24-30.
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