Water stress mitigation of blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) with exogenous application of mannitol

Abstract

The study was undertaken for standardizing the effective concentration of the osmolyte mannitol through exogenous application for mitigating water stress in blackgram. The seed material VBN (Bg) 4 was used for the study. Water stress was imposed for 7 days on 25 DAS followed by exogenous application of different concentrations of osmolyte mannitol. On 35 DAS, the samples were analysed for biochemical attributes – proline, soluble proteins, free aminoacids, catalase and peroxidase Growth attributing parameters and yield attributing parameters were recorded at the time of maturity. After optimization based on biochemical analysis, 30 mM mannitol was found to be the effective dose for amelioration of water stress in blackgram. Further, impact of foliar application of 30 mM mannitol during three different stages (Vegetative, Flowering, Vegetative and Flowering) of application was evaluated and the appropriate stage for application was standardized based on analysis.