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. 2025 Feb 3;25(1):139.
doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-06116-6.

Mitigating drought stress in fenugreek through synergistic effects of alanine and potassium-enriched biochar

Wanzheng Ma  1 , Xinyu Fang  2 , Mengru Qiu  2 , Misbah Hareem  3 , Zeki Erden  4 , Çağdaş Can Toprak  4 , Abdullah A Alarfaj  5
Affiliations

Mitigating drought stress in fenugreek through synergistic effects of alanine and potassium-enriched biochar

Wanzheng Ma et al. BMC Plant Biol. .

Abstract

Drought stress adversely affects plant growth, development, and yield. It can decrease seed germination, biomass accumulation, root proliferation, chlorophyll contents, and stomatal conductance. To overcome this critical issue, researchers suggest employing environmentally friendly approaches. The exogenous application of alanine (AL) acts as an osmolyte, which helps balance the cellular water under drought stress. It can also improve root architecture, biomass accumulation, and plant fertilizer use efficiency. Applying biochar can improve soil structure, water, and nutrient retention in soil, which are allied factors in enhancing plant growth under drought stress. Furthermore, the enrichment of potassium (K) in biochar also increases its availability to plants, directly regulating the stomatal conductance to alleviate drought stress. That's why the current study aims to explore the combined effect of AL and potassium-enriched biochar (KBC) on fenugreek cultivated under drought stress. Four levels of AL (control, 2mM, 4mM, and 6mM) were applied with 0%, 1%, and 2% KBC in three replicates. Results showed that 2mM AL + 2%KBC showed significant improvement in plant length (5.24%), plant fresh weight (25.36%), plant dry weight (16.23%), chlorophyll a (7.80%), chlorophyll b (15.83%), total chlorophyll (10.65%) over the control under drought stress. A significant increase in shoot N, P, and K concentration compared to control under drought stress also validated the effectiveness of 2mM AL + 2%KBC. In conclusion, 2mM AL + 2%KBC is an effective amendment for alleviating drought stress in fenugreeks. Under drought stress, growers are recommended to apply 2mM AL + 2%KBC to achieve better fenugreek growth.

Keywords: Alanine; Antioxidants; Biochar; Chlorophyll content; Drought stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: We all declare that manuscript reporting studies do not involve any human participants, human data, or human tissue. So, it is not applicable. Study protocol must comply with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation. Our experiment follows the with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The impacts of different levels of alanine (AL) and potassium-enriched biochar (KBC) on fenugreek plant length (A), fresh weight (B), and dry weight (C). Variable letters on bars (mean of n = 3 ± SE) showed a significant difference at p < 0.05; Tukey test
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The impacts of different conc. of alanine (AL) and potassium-enriched biochar (KBC) on fenugreek on chlorophyll a (A), chlorophyll b (B), total chlorophyll (C), and carotenoids (D). Variable letters on bars (mean of n = 3 ± SE) showed a significant difference at p < 0.05; Tukey test
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The impacts of different conc. of alanine (AL) and potassium-enriched biochar (KBC) on fenugreek on peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APx). Variable letters on bars (mean of n = 3 ± SE) showed a significant difference at p < 0.05; Tukey test
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The impacts of different conc. of alanine (AL) and potassium-enriched biochar (KBC) on fenugreek on shoot N (A), P (B), and K (C) concentration. Variable letters on bars (mean of n = 3 ± SE) showed a significant difference at p < 0.05; Tukey test
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The impacts of different conc. of alanine (AL) and potassium-enriched biochar (KBC) on fenugreek on roots N (A), P (B), and K (C) concentration. Variable letters on bars (mean of n = 3 ± SE) showed a significant difference at p < 0.05; Tukey test
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Cluster plot convex hull for different alanine (AL) levels (A), potassium-enriched biochar (B), and hierarchical cluster plot (C) for studied attributes
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Pearson correlation analysis for the studied attributes
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