Vegetos

Abstract

Brinjal, commonly called as aubergine or eggplant need to have drought tolerant cultivars. Present investigation was carried out to identify the effect of moisture stress on key physiological traits and to identify the drought tolerant cultivars. Sixty five genotypes were transplanted after 30 days of sowing in three replications for moisture stress and normal conditions in pots having two plants per pot. The observations on plant height, root length, root: shoot ratio, SPAD chlorophyll reading, relative water content and membrane stability index were recorded in both moisture stress and non-stress plants. Change in percent mean under moisture stress conditions compared to non-stress conditions was computed and found that plant height, root length and relative water content was reduced by 30.86, 21.23 and 46.85 percent respectively, whereas root: shoot ratio, membrane stability index and SPAD chlorophyll Reading were increased by 10.19, 4.13 and 14.98 percent respectively in moisture stress condition compared to non-stress condition. Among the 65 genotypes, Pusa Shaymala, IIHR-7, IIHR-322, R-2585, L-3268, Pusa Purple Long, Annamalai, Long Green, Jawahar Brinjal-69, Jawahar Brinjal- 64, Pusa Upkar, Early Round, Swarna Shyamali, Arka Shirish and Raidurga Green Round were found to be moisture stress tolerant cultivars.