Effects of water stress on yield and some yield components of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.).pdf

Effects of water stress on yield and some yield components of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Department of Agricultural Biology, Alawathugoda CJ, Dahanayake Nilanthi and Ranawake AL Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna Introduction ● Family : Pedaliaceae ● Most wild species of the sesame are native to Africa and the cultivated type originated in India ● One of the oldest oilseed crop used by humans (Weiss 2000) ● Seed contains all essential amino acids and fatty acids. ● Grown under different ecological conditions ● Plant growth and development are greatly influenced by various environmental factors such as; temperature, light, water and nutrient availability ● Variations in these factors that adversely affect plant growth and development are termed as abiotic stress ● Stress conditions dramatically reduce crop production ● Water is a primary input in enhancing crop production as it is directly or indirectly involve in all the physiological processes in plant which is directly changing morphological characters of plants Objective of the study ● To estimate the impact of water stress at vegetative and reproductive stages on plant growth and development Methodology ● Sesame – Variety MI3 ● Seeds were germinated in the nursery beds for three weeks ● Seedlings were transferred to the plastic pots (2 plants/pot) ● Potting media – Top soil, Compost, Cow dung, Coir dust (1:1:1:1) ● No of pots – 20 ● No of replicates – 5 ● Total No of plants – 40 ● Four Treatments as; –T 1 = Control group (daily watering) –T 2 = Water cut at vegetative growth stage –T 3 = Water cut at flowering stage –T 4 = Water cut at maturity stage ● Stress period (water cut) – 10 days ● Experimental design = Completely Randomized Design (CRD) ● All management practices were conducted according to recommendations of the Department of Agriculture from seed germination to harvesting Data collection ● Plant shoot height (cm) ● Plant root length (cm) ● No. of pods/plant ● Seed wet w