DROUGHT AMELIORATING EFFECT OF EXOGENOUS APPLIED CYTOKININ IN WHEAT.

Raza, Muhammad Aown Sammar; Zaheer, Muhammad Saqlain; Saleem, Muhammad Farrukh; Khan, Imran Haider; Ahmad, Salman; Iqbal, Rashid

Water deficit reduces crop productivity. Cytokinin (CK) is a growth regulator which is a potent coordinator between physiological traits and senescence. A study was carried out to investigate the drought ameliorating effects of exogenous applied cytokinin in wheat. Experiment was comprised of seven treatments(C= Control, DT= Drought at tillering, DT+CK= Drought at tillering + CK, DA= Drought at anthesis, DA+CK= Drought at anthesis + CK, DG= Drought at grain filling, DG+CK= Drought at grain filling + CK).Cytokinin was applied foliarly@ 25 mg L-1 solution of cytokinins. CK application under drought stress significantly increased growth and yield characteristics (P< 0.05). An increase of 4.36%, 7.21% and 5.55% in grain yield was recorded with CK application when drought was applied at tillering, anthesis and grain filling stage, respectively. Other physiological parameters increased by CK included photosynthesis rate, leaf area index, chlorophyll content, activities of ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and endogenous hormonal level of kernels. It was concluded that CK improved plant growth, minimized ill impacts of reactive oxygen species and increase transfer of assimilates to grains under drought.

CYTOKININS; LEAF area index; DROUGHTS; GRAIN; WHEAT; PHOTOSYNTHETIC rates; SUPEROXIDE dismutase

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2020, Vol 57, Issue 3, p725

0552-9034

Academic Journal

10.21162/PAKJAS/20.8183