Evaluation of Morpho-physio Parameters of Corchorus olitorius Accessions under Water Deficit Conditions

It has been well established that water deficit stress greatly affects the physiological process of most crops thus subsequently affecting yield as it disturbs the photosynthesis process. So it important to continuously evaluate potential future crops on the performance under limited moisture conditions to document their physiological response. This study aimed to analyse morpho-physiological parameters of six Corchorus olitorius (Jew’s mallow) accessions grown under water deficit stress in Botswana. A greenhouse pot study was conducted during 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. The six accessions were subjected to 30% FC as water deficit stress and 80% FC as control. The yield and yield components, physiological parameter including SPAD content, proline, stomatal conductance and leaf relative water content of six selected Corchorus olitorius accessions were assessed during two consecutive seasons. There was a significant difference in all the studied accessions yield and their components under the water deficit stress and control treatment with decreased mean values under the 30% FC. Bafia and TOT6684 accessions recorded higher fresh weight, dry weight, leaf area, root weight, under both water deficit stress and control treatments suggesting that they are high yielding accessions while MSB072 mostly recorded lower values for the same traits thus it could be characterised as low yielding accession. Interestingly, these two high yielding accessions had the fewest number of branches, resulting in a negative correlation between the yield and number of branches. SUD3 accession, recorded the highest root length despite low yielding, possibly because it transmitted more assimilates into developing long roots to seek for water. Bafia and TOT6684 recordings in all the variables under both treatments therefore suggested that, they are high yielding accessions while MSB072 is low yielding accession. These high yielding accessions during water deficit stress suggest that Corchorus olitorius might be having some tolerance mechanisms that sustain physiological growth during stress.