Vol. 10, Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Ranjitha BR, Babu AG, Gasti VD, Sarvamangala M Cholin and Mulla SW

Abstract:
Frequent changes in climatic conditions also affect the crop yield, among the various abiotic factors challenging crop production globally, drought stress is increasingly playing a crucial role. When okra plant exposed to 50% level of drought reduces the growth and photosynthetic pigment which resulting in reduction of pod yield gradually. Plants are responsive to drought at physiological, morphological, biochemical as well as at molecular levels. Plant height, root length, fresh and dry biomass, chlorophyll and proline content, rate of photosynthesis and expression of drought responsive genes are reliable indicators of plant response to drought stress. An experiment was carried out on okra to identify the drought tolerant genotypes by characterizing physiological traits. Twenty okra genotypes were subjected to water stress in the controlled environmental chamber in pots with 3 replications. After seedling emergence, plants were subjected to 3 levels water stress treatment viz., Control (full hydration), moderate water stress and severe water stress. The genotypes were evaluated for drought specific traits viz., Relative water content, Proline content, Specific leaf weight and yield attributes. Significant differences on physiological and yield attributes were observed in various levels of water stresses compared to control across the genotypes. The results reveals the genotypes COH-4, UHSCOHB-1 and Bagalkot local were found relatively drought tolerant even under severe stress by exhibiting physiological drought adoptive traits, whereas CBR-2 and UHSCOHB-3 were found relatively drought sensitive.