Brassinolide induced modulation of physiology, growth and yield of wheat (triticum aestivum L.) under water stress condition

A pot experiment was conducted to study the modulation effect of brassinolide under water stress and non-water stress condition on physiology, growth and yield of wheat cultivars, namely, Raj-3777 (water stress tolerant) and HD-2329 (water stress sensitive), grown in ceramic pots under normal condition till anthesis stage, then plants were sprayed with brassinolide (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 ppm) concentration. The half of the plants were subjected to water stress by withholding irrigation for a period of 10 days. The non-stress plants were irrigated as frequently as needed and observations were recorded at 10 and 20 days after anthesis. Water stress was found to decrease significantly in the data of photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, relative water content, chlorophyll stability index, leaf area, leaf dry weight, plant height, number of spikes per plant, number of grains per ear, test weight and grain yield along with a significant difference between them. The effect of Brassinolide was found to increase in the value of these parameters significantly at all the stages in both the cultivars of wheat up to 1.5 ppm concentration of it. These variables are positively correlated with grain yield.