Relationship between drought tolerance and stomata density in melon

In this study relationship between drought tolerance and the stomata density of melon leaf was investigated. Twenty melon genotypes consisted of cultivars and landraces collected in Turkey were used as plant materiel. Plants were grown in a growth chamber and water stress was imposed at the three true leaf stages. The experiment was completed when the plants were 48 days old. Responses of genotypes to the water stress were investigated by using stomata density, shoot damage visual score (1-5), plant fresh and dry weight, leaf area, membrane injury index (MII) and relative water content (RWC). The results showed that the correlations between the "stomata density in control plants" and reductions in "shoot fresh and dry weights", "membrane injury", "relative water content" and "visual appearance scale" of drought plants vs. control plants were significantly important. The studies indicated that more tolerance to drought is less stomata density in leaf in control conditions. This property could be useful parameter in order to screen large melon plant material (genetic germplasm) for their drought tolerance at early plant growth stage. The only "one" parameter can be use to reduce large number of genotypes for later detail investigations