The Efficiency of Antitranspirants in the Enhancement of the Physiology of Brassica napus L. under Different Water Stress Levels

Abstract

Rapeseed is a crucial crop in India, contributing 23.7% and 27% to oilseed acreage and production, respectively. With an estimated population of 1.32 billion, 21.12 million tonnes of edible oil are required, with about 20% to be met by rapeseed-mustard equivalent to 12.7 Mt. Water stress due to several causes is the limiting factor for increasing productivity. The main objective of performing this work is to evaluate the potential of anti-transpirants and study the underlying mechanism asserted by the anti-transpirants on the physiology of rapeseed. Three levels of stress were applied viz. Irrigation at 100% FC (Field Capacity), 75% FC and 50% FC. The research work was carried out in the agriculture field of Lovely Professional University. The experiment was carried out with 3 main plot treatments (Irrigation levels) and 5 sub-plot treatments (Anti-transpirants) carried out in 3 replications with total 45 plots. The layout was split-plot design, and statistical analysis was done using STATISTIX 10 and OPSTAT. After doing the experiment, it was found that increasing stress resulted in lower total chlorophyll content, greater proline accumulation, and higher stomatal count per unit area of fresh leaf. The crops treated with Kaolin 6% exhibited the least stress, with reduced proline buildup, higher total chlorophyll content, and fewer stomata per unit area. Plants treated with 6% Kaolin shown increased nutrient absorption (N, P, and K). Through this experiment we can say that with anti-transpirants (specially Kaolin 6%) plants able to tolerate reduced moisture availability most efficiently. From the overall prospect, amonh anti-transpirants, Kaolin 6% observed to be the most effective anti-transpirant. The difference between the result obtained in irrigation at 100% FC and irrigation at 75% FC is less, which indicates that an increase in water availability was not too much beneficial for the physiological development of the crop.