Abstract
Drought stress significantly reduces the crop productivity, including pea (Pisum sativum L.), 'necessitating development of effective strategies to mitigate these losses under changing climatic conditions. This study explores the potential of foliar-applied gibberellic acid (GA(3)) and brassinolide (BR), individually and in combination, to enhance the drought resilience in pea plants. A pot experiment was conducted comprising of treatments i.e. T0 (no-stress), T1 (Stress-without foliar application), T2 (0.4% GA(3)), T3 (0.002% BR) and T4 (T2 + T3). Results indicated that T4 induced the most pronounced improvement in plant height (50%), leaf area (66.4%), total chlorophyll (41%) and carotenoid contents (89%), pod fresh (57.93%) and dry weight (89%), seeds per pod (41%) with enhanced antioxidant activity (81%) as compared to T1 and T0. Additionally, the seed nutrients including crude protein, crude fibre, and nitrogen free extract were increased by 34.6%, 55.9%, and 15% respectively with T4 as compared to T1. The plants treated with T4, were comparable with control in their morphological and yield indices, exhibiting higher stress tolerance; followed by plants receiving T3 (0.002% BR). Molecular docking analysis further substantiates these findings, revealing strong binding affinities of BR (protein ID: 2PWJ; ΔG = - 6.99) and GA(3) (protein ID: KAI2; ΔG = - 7.31) with stress-relieving proteins. These interactions highlight the synergistic role of GA(3) and BR in enhancing drought tolerance through morphological, physiological and metabolic ameliorations. This study concludes that the combined application of GA(3) and BR effectively mitigates drought stress in P. sativum offering a promising approach to safeguard yield under water-limited conditions.