Research Article Moisture and Salinity Stress Induced Changes in Biochemical Constituents and Water Relations of Different Grape Rootstock Cultivars Satisha Jogaiah, Sahadeo D. Ramteke, Jagdev Sharma, and Ajay Kumar Upadhyay National Research Centre for Grapes, P. B. No. 3, Manjri Farm, Solapur Road, Pune, Maharashtra 412 307, India Correspondence should be addressed to Satisha Jogaiah; satilata@gmail.com Received 25 June 2013; Accepted 28 October 2013; Published 20 January 2014 Academic Editor: Ravindra N. Chibbar Copyright © 2014 Satisha Jogaiah et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ten grape rootstocks were subjected to moisture and salinity stress in two separate experiments. Te infuence of these stresses on gas exchange, water relation, and biochemical parameters was monitored at various stages of stress cycle. Both stresses indicated signifcant changes in the physiological and biochemical parameters studied. Some biochemical constituents increased by several folds in few rootstock cultivars which also recorded increased osmotic potential suggesting their role in osmotic adjustment. Some of the rootstock cultivars such as 110R, 1103P, 99R, Dogridge, and B2/56 recorded increased phenolic compounds under stressed conditions. Te same rootstock also recorded increased water use efciency. Te increased accumulation of phenolic compounds in these cultivars may indicate the possible role of phenolic compounds as antioxidants for scavenging the reactive oxygen species generated during abiotic stresses thus maintaining normal physiological and biochemical process in leaves of resistant cultivars. 1. Introduction Water scarcity and soli salinity are the major hurdles for grape cultivation as the majority of the area under grape cultivation is concentrated in the semiarid tropical climate of India. Te combined efect of these two abiotic stresses in these regions contributed to a decline in the productivity of own-rooted vineyards. Hence, interest in grape rootstocks has intensifed, owing to the problems of salinity and drought. Over depen- dence on a single rootstock Dogridge necessitated the grow- ers to use other rootstocks as some rootstocks cannot perform well under all soil and climatic conditions. Rootstocks are known to infuence physiology and biochemical process of the grafed scion varieties as evidenced by several studies. Hence, it is necessary to study the mechanisms by which root- stocks respond to drought and salinity stresses. Rootstocks have been reported to alter the water status and gas exchange parameters of scion varieties in both potted [1] and feld con- ditions [2]. Te most important mechanism is that rootstocks genotypes have a major infuence on root density [3] although the distribution of grapevine roots is signifcantly dependent on both soil characteristics and vine spacing. Salt stress in higher plants is regulated by a number of physiological and biochemical processes. High level of salt causes an imbalance of cellular ions resulting in both ion toxicity and osmotic stress causing a production of active O 2 species (AOS) as superoxide, hydrogen peroxides, and hydroxyl radicals [4]. To reduce AOS induced damage, plants have evolved intricate antioxidative systems, involv- ing antioxidant enzymes, as well as low molecular weight secondary metabolites such as ascorbate, glutathione, toco- pherols, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds [5]. Biological and antioxidant properties of phenolic compounds among other metabolites have extensively been studied [6]. Protein and secondary metabolites of leaves from a variety of plants have been examined and were found to be promising as markers, such as dehydrin, and ASR proteins (abscisic acid ripening induced proteins), under moisture stress conditions. Diferent plant species and genotypes within a species respond diferently to salt and water stress. So the objec- tive of the present study was to determine the changes in physiological and biochemical components in the leaves of diferent grape rootstocks subjected to moisture and salinity stress during diferent stages of stress cycle. Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Agronomy Volume 2014, Article ID 789087, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/789087