Effect of Heat and Drought Stress on the Growth of Selected Grass Species of Pothohar Region
Effect of Heat and Drought Stress on the Growth of Selected Grass Species of Pothohar Region
Touseeq Haider1, Saeed Gulzar1, Sabeeqa Usman Malik1*, Aamir Saleem1, Zuhair Hasnain2, Nazakat Hussain3, Syed Ali Abbas1, Amir Hussain4 and Qadir Hussain4
ABSTRACT
Global pasture production faces significant challenges due to the combined stresses of heat and drought, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, such as in Pakistan. The study investigated the impact of temperature and drought strain on Chloris gayana and Setaria anceps growth. Plants were exposed to combined stresses including normal (100% Fc and 25˚C), moderate (75% Fc and 30˚C), severe (50% Fc and 35˚C), and high severe (25% Fc and 40˚C) conditions. Physiological parameters, including soil moisture content, relative water content, and chlorophyll content reduced under severe conditions. However, results showed that SMC differences decreased at 54% in Setaria anceps and 52% in Chloris gayana, similarly for RWC% at 27 and 26 in the first data set, while 29 and 25 in the second dataset, and total chlorophyll content at 0.25 and 0.22 mg/g in the first dataset, while 0.25 and 0.20 mg/g of fresh weight in the second dataset. Morphological parameters, including height, number of leaves per tiller, and biomass also decreased. The maximum and minimum biomass values were 9 and 2g in Chloris gayana and 7 and 2g in Setaria anceps grass. However, Chloris gayana slightly performed better than Setaria anceps in all parameters. The results were analyzed using SPSS, Complete Randomized Design (CRD) one-way ANOVA with a probability threshold of 0.05%.
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