Establishment of a rapid screening method for drought tolerance of small cardamom by using polyethylene glycol-6000

Abstract

Small cardamom is a premier spices crop of India. Drought is the chief abiotic stress causing up to 50-80% crop loss in small cardamom. Lack of accurate screening techniques is a limiting factor to develop small cardamom cultivars tolerant to drought, which is the most important constraint in small cardamom productivity. In order to optimize the osmotic stress induced by different concentrations of PEG-6000 for moisture stress tolerance screening in small cardamom, a laboratory experiment was conducted in a factorial randomized complete design with four replications. Four different concentrations of PEG-6000 (5, 10, 15 and 20 per cent) along with a control were used in small cardamom cv. Appangala-1. PEG-6000 concentration above 15% has reduced per cent seedling survival almost by 50%. However, at 15% PEG-6000, a significant increase in proline, phenolic content and scavenging enzyme activity and decreased chlorophyll fluorescence were recorded. Hence, 15% PEG-6000 appears to be an ideal concentration for screening of small cardamom genotypes for moisture stress tolerance.