K. Krishna Surendar K. Krishna Surendar ¹ , D. Durga Devi D. Durga Devi ¹ , I. Ravi I. Ravi ² , P. Jeyakumar P. Jeyakumar ¹ , S. Ramesh Kumar S. Ramesh Kumar ³ , Velayudham K. Velayudham ³

1.Assistant Professor, Department of Crop Physiology, Vanavarayar Institute of Agriculture, (TNAU Affiliated), Manakkadavu, Pollachi, Coimbatore- District, India;
2.Senior Scientist, National Research Centre for Banana (ICAR), Thiruchirapalli, India;
3.Director, Department of CSCMS, TNAU, Coimbatore-641003, India
Author    Correspondence author
Plant Gene and Trait, 2013, Vol. 4, No. 15   doi: 10.5376/pgt.2013.04.0015
Received: 18 Mar., 2013    Accepted: 25 Jul., 2013    Published: 27 Aug., 2013

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Surendar et al., 2013, Impact of Water Deficit on Epicuticular Wax, Proline and Free Amino Acid Content and Yield of Banana Cultivars and Hybrids, Plant Gene and Trait, Vol.4, No.15 78-85 (doi: 10.5376/pgt.2013.04.0015)

The field experiment was conducted at national research centre for banana to screen the banana cultivars and hybrids for water deficit tolerance and to elucidate information on epicuticular wax, proline, free amino acid and yield mechanism of banana cultivars and hybrids. Stress was imposed at different critical stages viz., 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th and 9^th month after planting. The stress was given by scheduling irrigation at the 50 per cent available soil moisture (ASM) characteristic during critical stages. The soil moisture content was analyzed by using pressure plate membrane apparatus. In control plots, the irrigation was given at the ASM of 80 per cent with the soil water potential of around -6 bars and in the case of stressed plots; the irrigation was given when an ASM reached 50 per cent with the soil water potential of -14 bars. In stressed plots, 50% ASM was reached around 30 days. In this present study conducted with twelve cultivars and hybrids with three replications. The data were analyzed by using split plot design. The epicuticular wax, proline, free amino acid and yield were significantly increased during water deficit conditions. Among the twelve cultivars and hybrids, Karpuravalli, Karpuravalli×Pisang Jajee, Saba, and Sannachenkathali was identified as tolerant to water stress with highly accelerated by water stress treatment in the range of 18, 24 and 27 per cent over control in epicuticular wax content, proline and free amino acid leads to maintains the higher osmotic potential and water potential during stress conditions and get higher yield; whereas, Matti, Pisang Jajee×Matti, Matti×Anaikomban and Anaikomban×Pisang Jajee were notified as sensitive cultivars and hybrids with lesser increase in epicuticular wax content, proline and free amino acid of 13 per cent than control which is leads to get very low yield.

Banana; Water stress; Epicuticular wax; Proline; Free amino acid and yield