Influence of plant growth regulating chemicals on physiology of bhendi under moisture stress

Drought or moisture stress reduces growth and yield of various crops by decreasing chlorophyll pigments, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance as well as transpiration rates. Under such water limited conditions, the productivity of the crop can be improved by foliar spray of plant growth regulating chemicals. In the present study, split plot design was employed with moisture stress as main plot (M0 – No stress, M1 – Moisture stress at vegetative stage, M2 – Moisture stress at reproductive stage) and foliar spray of plant growth regulating chemicals as sub plot (S1 – Control, S2 – Proline (50 mM), S3 – KCl (1%), S4 – Glycine betaine (50 mM), S5 – Ascorbic acid (100 ppm), S6 – Salicylic acid (100 ppm)) in three replicates. Among the physiological parameters observed, the maximum Relative Water Content (RWC) (89.8%) was observed with glycine betaine (50 mM) treatment at 40 Days. While the highest Chlorophyll Stability Index (CSI) (88.2%) was observed in proline (50 mM) treatment at 60 Days. Similarly, the Membrane Stability Index (MSI) (82.1%) was maximum with proline (50 mM) treatment at 40 Days. With respect to biochemical parameters, the higher leaf proline content of 315.9 µg g-1 was observed in proline (50 mM) treatment at 80 Days. The maximum leaf soluble protein content (17.1 mg g-1). While, the catalase activity was maximum (7.9 µg H2O2 g-1 min-1) with proline (50 mM) as well as ascorbic acid (100 ppm) at 60 Days