An in Vitro Approach to Investigate the Role of Abscisic Acid in Alleviating the Negative Effects of Chilling Stress on Banana Shoots

Banana is a tropical crop cultivated in warm places. Chilling stress Egypt making banana crops less productive. Abscisic acid (ABA), key plant hormone, regulates metabolic and physiological processes protects plants from variety of stresses. In vitro growing shoots were pre-treated with ABA at four concentrations (0, 25, 50, 100 mM) chilled 5°C for 24 h, followed by six-day recovery period 25°C. By comparing treatments to both positive negative controls, biochemical changes investigated. (5°C) caused considerable increase lipid peroxidation ion leakage reduced photosynthetic pigments cold-treated plantlets. Increasing the concentration µM enhanced response chilling stress. had major effect on mitigating injury keeping cell membranes stable lowering amount peroxidation. Also, significantly maintained pigment shoots; accumulated higher amounts total soluble carbohydrates proline; increased DPPH radical scavenging activity. Furthermore, treatment cold tolerance chilling-stressed through regulation antioxidant enzyme Overall, results show that good choice protecting damage