Drought Induced Impact on Growth and Yield of Wheat and Mustard: A Comparative Study

Background: Drought stress poses a significant threat to global crop productivity and quality, with climate variability exacerbating its intensity in recent decades. This susceptibility underscores the urgent need to address the impact of water scarcity on agricultural systems. Methods: Study was carried out to investigate the effects of drought on mustard (TS 67) and wheat (HD 3086) cultivars popularly grown in north eastern part of India. Drought was imposed at three distinct stages of crop growth (vegetative, flowering and pod filing) for 15 days to study the variability in response mechanisms if any. Result: Drought significantly (p≤0.05) reduced plant height and leaf number in both the crops. It had a significant (p≤0.05) inhibitory impact on leaf chlorophyll content in the tested wheat and mustard cultivars. Drought lowers the rate of photosynthesis and this decline was more distinct when stress was applied during flowering stage of both the crops. Plant height stress tolerance index (PHSI) and dry matter stress tolerance index (DMSI) values indicated mustard (TS 67) as more tolerant crop to the imposed drought compared to wheat (HD 3086).