Physiological Responses of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) Genotypes under Varying Levels of Moisture Stress

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at College of Horticulture, Bagalkot, to evaluate the physiological responses of ten selected coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) genotypes under different levels of moisture stress. The ten genotypes were subjected to three moisture regimes, including a non-stress control (M1), 25% moisture stress (M2) and 50% moisture stress (M3) based on field capacity, and statistically analysed using factorial completely randomized design with two replications. The physiological parameters like relative water content (RWC), total chlorophyll content, proline accumulation and membrane stability index (MSI) were assessed. Increasing moisture stress resulted in a gradual reduction in RWC and chlorophyll content, with mean RWC declining from 71.98% under M1 to 51.63% under M3, while chlorophyll content decreased from 15.45 to 10.47 SCMR units. Genotypes DCC-60 and DCC-64 consistently maintained higher water status and chlorophyll stability, indicating better adaptation to moisture stress. Proline content increased substantially with stress intensity, rising from 4.32 µmol g⁻¹ FW under control conditions to 13.90 µmol g⁻¹ FW under severe stress, with higher accumulation observed in susceptible genotypes. MSI also declined sharply under stress, although DCC-60 and DCC-64 retained comparatively higher membrane stability. Overall, the combined evaluation of physiological traits identified the genotypes DCC-60, followed by DCC-64 and DCC-56, performed better under moisture stress condition. which seems to be another objective of the study, provide a brief summary of the most important results you obtained regarding the physiological tests.