Investigating the Effect of In situ Water Harvesting and Stress Management Practices on Relative Leaf Water Content, Leaf Proline and Yield of Cotton under Rainfed Vertisol

A Field experiment was conducted at Regional research station, Aruppukottai, Tamil Nadu during rabi
season of 2016-17 with the test variety SVPR - 2. The current worked was aimed to study the effect of
In situ water harvesting, stress management practices on physiological parameters of Relative Leaf
Water Content (RLWC), Proline and Seed cotton yield of cotton under rainfed Vertisol. The
experiments were done in split plot design with three replicates. The main plot treatments consisted of
different In situ water harvesting measures viz., Broad bed and furrows, Ridges and furrows and
Compartmental bunding. The subplot comprises with stress management practices viz., Soil
application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha-1, Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha-1 + foliar spray
of 1% KCl, Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of 5% Kaolin, Soil application
of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of PPFM @ 500 ml ha-1, Soil application of pusa hydrogel
@ 5 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of Salicylic acid 100 ppm and Control. The results of this study showed that
Broad bed and furrow and soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of PPFM @
500 ml ha-1 recorded higher RLWC, seed cotton yield and lower values of Proline content. The higher
RLWC indicates the better availability of water in the cell, which increase the photosynthetic rate, dry
matter production and high productivity. The higher proline content in leaves indicates more moisture
stressed of crops under rainfed condition.