PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF THE DIFFERENT ECOTYPES OF Sporobolus iocladus (Poaceae) UNDER VARIOUS LEVELS OF DROUGHT STRESS

ABDUL REHMAN *

Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Sindh, Pakistan.

RABIA ASMA MEMON

Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Sindh, Pakistan.

MANSOOR HAMEED

Department of Botany, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.

NARGIS NAZ

Department of Life Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Abstract

Sporobolus iocladus (Poaceae) is one of the most important perennial grasses in Cholistan's desert of Pakistan, invading and thriving with great potential. In current research work six ecotypes of Sporobolus iocladus were collected from different locations of Cholistan desert and then grown in pots against different level of drought stress. Four treatments were applied i.e. T₁= 100% water holding capacity (Control), T₂=75% water holding capacity, T₃= 50% water holding capacity and T₄= 25% water holding capacity. Ecotype DG showed best response with respect to leaf area index (LAI), no of tillers, plants height (PH), root length (RL) and transpiration rate (TR) against highest drought stress T₄. While highly positive and significant correlation among given parameters depicts that these attributes can be used to evaluate and improve biomass production.

Keywords: Sporobolus iocladus, drought stress, ecotypes, transpiration rate, water holding capacity (WHC)

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