PJB-2018-257
Growth, Yield and Chlorophyll Determination of Drought Stressed Wheat Plants under Different Soil Properties
David O.A
Abstract
ABSTRACT Background and Objectives: Triticum aestivum is an important grain cereal with agricultural, economic and nutritional values. Drought stress on the other hand is an abiotic factor that adversely affects the productivity of plants especially those grown in arid and semi-arid regions under conditions of variable soil properties. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of drought stress on five cultivars of wheat under different soil properties selected from North-Central part of Nigeria. Study Design: Completely Randomized Design Place and Duration of Study: The research was carried out in Nigeria at the Department of Botany and the Department of Biochemistry, of the Federal University Lafia and University of Ibadan respectively. Methodology: Four levels of watering regime (adequate watering D1, one weekly drought D2, two weekly drought D3 and three weekly drought D4), five cultivars of wheat (Alta 84 (AL), Atila (AT), Cettia (CE), Norman Bourgluk 2008 (NB) and Seri M82 (SE) and three soil types: loamy sand (S1), sandy loam (S2) and loamy sand (S3) were used in this study. Each treatment was replicated three times; pots were watered till field moisture capacity. Four weeks after planting (WAP), healthy plants were randomly subjected to the drought stress treatments. Fresh plant samples were collected 10 WAP from each treatment for chlorophyll analysis. Experiment was terminated 12 WAP. Results: There was a significant difference among cultivars, soil types and drought stress treatments. Soil types and drought stress significantly interacted together to affect the growth (P<0.05), yield and chlorophyll contents (P<0.001) of wheat cultivars. Cultivars Atila (AT) and Cettia (CE) showed highest number of leaves, tillers and spikes, plant height, peduncle and spike length, grain weight, grain number, spike weight, and harvest index at D4. It seems that the plant height, peduncle, spike number and spike length were more sensitive to drought stress. Norman Blougluk 2008 (NB) and Seri M82 (SE) produced greater biomass than other cultivars. Wheat cultivars invested in higher shoot production than root and cultivar NB had greater root to shoot ratio, but the difference was not significant with the root to shoot ratio of cultivars SE and AL. During drought stress, higher chlorophyll a and total carotenoids were found in cultivar Atila and Cettia at S2 than other soil types. Accumulations of high carotenoids were found in cultivars AT and CE, which showed that cultivars must have undergone osmoregulation and photosynthetic stabilization that usually prevent oxidation of plant tissues. This correlated with higher growth and yield obtained in the cultivars, which proof that plant metabolism were not interrupted during drought stress. Soil type S2 contained high Na+, Mg2+, K+ and Ca2+ with high clay percentage (9.4%) thus, water and nutrients can be retained more at this exchangeable site which may have been responsible for better growth, yield and chlorophyll contents of the wheat cultivar. The Alta 84 cultivar was considered sensitive to drought. Conclusion: Sandy loam is a good soil type for cultivation of wheat especially under drought stress. Wheat cultivars Atila and Cettia were considered to be highly drought-tolerant cultivars. Farmers are therefore encouraged to cultivate Atila or Cettia depending on their economic target.
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