Foliar Applications for Drought Resilience in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Drought is one of the serious inevitable causes of climate change and its impact seriously affect agriculture and livelihood. So, managing drought with a farmer friendly approach is very important. This study illustrates the effect of foliar applications on managing drought stress and how it impacts on growth, yield and biochemical characteristics. Study was conducted at Instructional farm of Kerala Agricultural University during late Rabi 2024. Treatments consisted of 7 foliar applicants and three levels of moisture stress.  Yield parameters such as panicles per plant, grains per panicle, grain yield, 1000 grain weight and straw yield was recorded after harvest. Biochemical parameters such as Relative Water Content (RWC), proline, total chlorophyll content was observed at MT and PI stage through standard procedure. The statistical data analysis was done using GRAPES KAU version 1.1.0. Foliar application had significant influence on growth, yield and biochemical parameters. Under 50% FC moisture stress highest grain yield was obtained from KCl @ 0.3% application (12.7 g/plant). However, kaolin application @ 5% obtained highest grain yield under moisture stress at MT and PI (13 g/plant) stage and no moisture stress (12.7g/plant). Highest proline content was observed under kaolin application at 50% FC and stress given at MT and PI stage. From this experiment, it can be concluded that the application of kaolin at 5% and KCl at 0.3% produced yields comparable to those of stress-free crops. The yield obtained through drought stress management using foliar application was also comparable to that of plants grown under irrigated conditions. Therefore, the present study should be repeated under multilocation and multiseasonal trials to obtain more conclusive results. As the trial showed a positive influence on managing drought stress through foliar application, further investigation is warranted to validate its effectiveness under diverse environmental conditions.