Physiological and yield responses of Camelina sativa to modified Biochar under drought stress

Water stress is the most crucial abiotic stress, adversely affecting soil productivity and global food production. The soil productivity can be enhanced by utilizing organic soil conditioners such as organically modified sugarcane bagasse biochar (ASBB) which can potentially enhance crop yield. On the other hand, Pakistan's domestic edible oil production is notably insufficient. Edible oil holds the position as the top food import commodity in Pakistan. So, there is a dire need to enhance the domestic oil production in Pakistan. The present work intends to explore the influence of ASBB on yield attributes of Camelina sativa growing under three different levels of irrigation (100%, 70%, and 50% moisture of field capacity). A field experiment was conducted in the Botanical Garden, at University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates during 2023-2024. Water stress adversely affected the morphological, physiological, biochemical and yield related attributes of Camelina sativa in soil without ASBB amendment under 50% moisture of field capacity. However, ASBB improved the plant growth parameters in both 5 tons per hectare (T) and 10T amendments. However, the highest improvement was recorded in 10T ASBB in leaf relative water content, (20%, 19.6%, and 30.25%) and total chlorophyll content (131%, 78%, and 61%), when grown under 100%,70%, and 50% irrigation, respectively, in contrast to without ASBB amendment. Leaf proline content and antioxidant enzymes activities (SOD, POD, CAT) enhanced under 70% and 50% irrigation while declined under 100% irrigation in soil without ASBB amendment. However, 10T ASBB improved branches per plant (61%, 56.5%, and 57%), pods per branch (67.5%, 66%, and 61%), 100 seed weight (20.9%, 19%, and 24%), and seed production per plant (5.6-folds, 4.2-folds, and 5.5-folds) under 100%, 70% and 50% irrigation. So, present work concluded that modified ASBB amendment in soil has been incredibly beneficial for improving crop productivity by enhancing water-use efficiency, leaf water status, and pigment stability in Camelina sativa in deficit irrigation systems.