DROUGHT STRESS INFLUENCE ON PEA PLANTS (PISUM SATIVUM L.)

Pisum sativum L. (garden peas) are highly nutritious vegetable crops destined for human consumption. Pea seedsare a valuable source of protein (23–25 %), slowly digestible starch (50 %), soluble carbohydrates (5 %), insolublefibers, and important sources of vitamins and minerals. Apart from the genetic (variety) differences, the chemical contentof pea seeds is influenced by environmental factors (cultivation area, soil composition and characteristics, trace elementsand minerals, total rainfall or lack of rain, relative humidity, solarization, average temperatures, etc.).In this study, we analyzed the drought stress on Petit Provencal, a commonly used garden pea variety in Romania.In the case of drought stress, the plants suppress stomatal opening to conserve water. During this experiment, the plantphotosynthetic parameters as assimilation rate and stomatal conductance have been decreased linearly with soil watercapacity. The light dependence curves of photosynthetic parameters have been shown a sharp decrease at low soil watercontent. The recovery parameters achieved the same values after seven days of normal watering. The polyphenols contentof the seeds does not vary significantly for plants normally watered compared to those kept in drought stress