Water Relations in the Leaves of Two High  Yielding Groundnut Cultivars Subjected to  Drought Stress

Dr. K.V. MADHUSUDHAN; Prof. C. SUDHAKAR

Volume : III, Issue : IV, April - 2014

Water Relations in the Leaves of Two High Yielding Groundnut Cultivars Subjected to Drought Stress

Dr. K. V. Madhusudhan, Prof. C. Sudhakar

Abstract :

In the current study, water relations in leaves of two high yielding cultivars of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L cv. K-134 and cv. JL-24 respectively) grown under control and water stress conditions were studied. One month old healthy groundnut cultivars were subjected to different soil moisture regimes characterized as control, mild, moderate and severe stress, represented by 100, 75, 50 and 25% soil moisture levels (SMLs) respectively, and the data were collected at different time intervals (days-4, 8 and 12) after induction of stress. Leaf water potential was found to be decreased in the leaves of both cultivars during all stress regimes over controls on all days of sampling. However, the per cent decrease was relatively less in cv. JL-24 than in cv. K-134. The leaves of cv. JL-24 showed greater reduction in relative water content (RWC) when compared to cv. K-134 with increasing stress. The changes in these parameters were dependent on stress severity and duration, and differed between cultivars. These results clearly support the better drought tolerance nature cv. K-134 compared to cv. JL-24.