10. Effect of seed priming with salicylic acid on yield of castor bean genotypes (Ricinus communis L.) under drought stress
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Abstract
Studies are lacking on the evaluation of newly developed cultivars of castor bean (non-edible oil seed crop) under drought and varying priming levels in northern irrigated plains of Pakistan. Hence, field experiment was conducted to evaluate the emergence and yield of two genotypes of castor bean (NIAB-GOLD and N-2020) having 3 seed priming levels of salicylic acid along with control T1: hydro priming, T2: 40 mg L-1 SA, T3: 80 mg L-1 SA and T4: 120 mg L-1 SA) after standardizing the duration of priming to 36 h. The experiment was carried out under randomized complete block design with split-split plot arrangement by keeping the genotypes in main plot, drought in sub plot and seed priming in sub-sub plot. Higher branches per plant (9.33), spikes per plant (11.67), capsules per plant (601.92 g) and seed yield (3.29 tons ha-1) were achieved in N-2020 while the 1000-seed weight was higher for NIAB-GOLD. Drought significantly reduced all the observations recorded except emergence percentage. Higher stem diameter (39.45 mm), branches per plant (9.67), capsules per plant (586.00), 1000-seed weight (267.04 g) and seed yield (3.28 tons ha-1) were taken in N-2020 seed priming with 40 mg L-1. Use of salicylic acid @ 40 mg L-1 at flowering stage may reduce the adversaries of water stress effectively at flowering stage of castor bean. It can aid in obtaining a good castor bean productivity by using N-2020 as a test cultivar providing a promising opportunity for the farmers of water scarce areas of Northern irrigated plains of Pakistan.
Keywords: Castor bean; Drought; Genotypes; Priming; Salicylic acid