Seedling drought tolerance in Cenchrus ciliaris accessions of Indian Germplasm Collection

Divya P Syamaladevi1,3* , S.S. Meena1

1 Western Regional Rsearch Station, Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan, India

2 Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, UttarPradesh, India3 Currently at : Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad, India

*Corresponding Author Email: dpsdevi@gmail.com

Introduction

Cenchrus ciliaris (Buffel grass) commonly known as Anjan grass in India is well known for

its drought tolerance and are commonly seen in the arid and semiarid tracks of India, Pakisthan,

Africa and Australia. This is a preferred fodder grass in these regions. A large number of Cenchrus

germplasm is available at WRRS, Avikanagar and a comparative performance evaluation in

response to drought stress is necessary for crop improvement efforts in this crop. Though there have

been efforts to compare between the different species of this crop, there was hardly any attempt to

screen the performance of the different accessions of Cenchrus ciliaris in the seedling stage.

Screening for tolerance in the seedling stage is important as this affects the initial establishment and

survival of the crop. In this study we have screened and identified 20 Indian accessions with

relatively better tolerance in the seedling stage.

Materials and Methods

Drought tolerance of 92 Cenchrus ciliaris germplasm accessions at WRRS, Avikanagar were

tested in seedling trays by imposing water stress to 1 month old seedlings. The seedlings were

grown under 50% shade and under normal irrigation (to field capacity). One month old seedlings

were drought stressed by withholding irrigation and daily monitoring of the extent of drying and

leaf rolling. The experiments were conducted under the shade house conditions with five

replications and the check varieties used were IGFRI-727, IGFR-3108, CAZRI-75

Results and Discussion

Based on the number of days taken for complete drying of the seedlings 20 accessions were

selected for further screening. The accessions which were able to survive up to 5 days without

irrigation were considered as the most tolerant among the 92 accessions screened for drought

tolerance. Thus selected 20 accessions are IG 96-159, IG 96-365, IG 96-395, IG 96-418, IG 96-

419, IG 96-438,IG 96-451,IG 96-505, IG 96-531, IG 96-659, IG 96-664, IG 96-666, IG 96-713, IG

67-59-1, IG 67-358A, IG 67-358B, IG 67-360, IG 67-3813, IG 67-1263A, IG 99-141. The national

checks IGFRI-727, IGFR-3108, CAZRI-75 did not withstand 5 days of water deficit in the seedling

stage. During seedling stage many of the accessions among the selected 20 tolerant types showed

better seedling height or number of leaves (Figure 1). IG 96-419 and IG 96-531 are noticeably

better in the seedling stage when compared to the national checks. However the performance of

might show a different trend in other growth stages and even yield. This initial screening

experiment in nursery provides scope for further evaluation of the 20 germplasm accessions for

yield characteristics as well as tolerance behavior at other growth stages.

Figure 1 : Graph showing seedling height and number of leaves in the selected 20 accessions along

with the national checks.

IG 67-59-1

IG 67-360

IG 67-3813

IG 96-159

IG 96-438

IG 96-451

IG 96-505

IG 96-531

IG 96-664

IG 96-666

IG 96-713

IG96-365

IG96-659

IG96-418

IG96-419

IG99-141

IG96-395

IG67-358A

IG 67-1263A

IG 358B

IGFRI-3108

IGFRI-721

CAZRI-75

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Seedling height (cm)Number of leaves