Morphological, Physiological and Biochemical Attributes as Indicators for Drought Tolerance in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Drought is the major problem for the rice. Drought affects directly the growth of rice, especially in low rainfall season. To confirm this effect, the experiments were conducted at the research lab of University of Gujrat during 2012. The rice variety which was used for the experiments was Rice-386.The design for the experiment was CRD (complete randomized design) with four replicates having four treatments. Drought affected the rate of photosynthesis, accumulation of total soluble sugars, root length, shoot length, shoot and root weight, chlorophyll a and b and also Carotenoids. Drought affected the growth and reduced the fresh shoot and root weights, root and shoot lengths and the photosynthetic pigments which ultimately reduced the photosynthetic rate and physiology and biochemical processes. It was concluded that water stress is ver y hazardous and interferes with the survival for rice.