Effect of Salicylic Acid on Physiological Parameters and Yield in Chickpea (cicerarietinum 1.) under Water Stress

摘要

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla during rabi, 2015-16 to study the effect of foliar application of salicylic acid (SA) on physiological parameters and yield in chickpea under water stress. The experiment was laid outin split plot design with three main treatments viz., no stress (M0), stress from flowering stage (M,) and stress from pod formation stage (MJ and four sub treatments viz., no SA spray (S0), SA spray @ 0.01 mM (S,), SA spray @ 0.1 mM (S2) and SA spray @1.0 mM (S3) in three replications. Water deficit stress significantly reduced the physiological parameters (i.e. leaf area, total dry matter and total chlorophyll content) and yield in chickpea. Leaf area was reduced by 19.8, total dry matter was reduced by 33.1, total chlorophyll content was decreased by 18.7 and seed yield of chickpea was decreased by 22.8 per cent, respectively, with the plants that were stressed from flowering stage over control. Salicylic acid spray @ 0.1 mM at 35 DAS increased the leaf area by 18.9, total dry matter by 20.4, total chlorophyll by 10.5 and seed yield by 19.7 per cent, respectively, over unsprayed plants. Exogenous application of SA @ 0.1 mM at 35 DAS to the plants that were stressed from pod formation stage significantly increased the total dry matter, total chlorophyll and seed yield of chickpea than the plants that were stressed from flowering stage. Hence, it can be concluded from the study that, chickpea plants are more sensitive to water stress from flowering stage rather than pod formation stage, and SA spray @ 0.1 mM at 35 DAS to the plants that were stressed from pod formation stage helped in mitigating the adverse effects of water stress and improved the growth and yield of chickpea under water stress.