Alleviating adverse effects of water stress on yield of sorghum, mustard and groundnut by potassium application
2006
Umar, S. (Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi (India). Dept. of Botany)
The amount of soil moisture available to plants in arid and semi-arid regions is a major limiting factor for crop yield. Under such conditions, potassium fertilization proved helpful in mitigating the adverse effects of water stress. The interaction of plant K status and water stress on yield and water relations of mustard, sorghum and groundnut was studied. Plants were subjected to increased soil water stress conditions, tissue K concentrations analyzed at peak growth stage (flowering) and relationships worked out between tissue K concentrations, yield parameters and relative water content. The water content of the leaf tissue was significantly increased by K application and the highest increase in RWC was 14.7%, 17.4% and 22.8% under normal conditions, and by 8.7%, 19.9% and 17.7% under water stress conditions in mustard, sorghum and groundnut, respectively. Water stress caused grain yield reductions and K application could enhance yield to a great extent. Production of above ground biomass, grain yield and RWC were highly correlated with the tissue K concentration, showing that concentration of K+ in leaves played a vital role in increasing water stress resistance and stabilizing yield in the crops studied.
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