Root length and leaf cuticular wax: The traits associated with drought avoidance in sunflower hybrids

Abstract

It is well known that the root traits and accumulation of leaf epicuticular wax would bring the drought avoidance in sunflower both in terms of absorption of water and reduced transpiration respectively. Studies on root system using containers with sufficient volume for potential root growth are not available among popular hybrids. Hence, present experiment was formulated to study the physiological and biochemical basis in imparting drought resistance in popular sunflower hybrids. Results revealed that, the shoot traits were least affected as compared to root traits signifying the relevance of root traits on drought avoidance mechanism in sunflower. Improvement in root traits under stress conditions to cope up with drought conditions. Among the traits studied, the dry matter production was highly related to root length and leaf cuticular wax content by correlation analysis, multiple linear regression and step wise regression analysis. Hence, the root length and leaf wax content are the most significant traits which can be considered in breeding programmes aid at drought resistance.