Abstract:
Groundnut is grown in the Batticaloa district
of Sri Lanka to a limited extent; the yield is vulnerable
to moisture stress especially during the ‘Yala’ season.
This experiment was conducted at the Agronomy farm
of the Eastern University, Sri Lanka during the ‘Yala’
2017. Studies were made to determine the effects of
moisture stress on growth and yield of selected groundnut
cultivars; ‘Lanka jumbo’, ‘Tissa’ and ‘Indi’.Stress was
imposed during the flowering stage to find out the most
suitable groundnut cultivar which can resist drought and
produce substantial yield under water limited situation.
Hundred and ninety two groundnut plants of the selected
cultivars were raised in polyethylene pots (as one plant
per pot). Moisture stress was imposed for a period of ten
days during the flowering stage (T2, T4 and T6) and the
control plants (T1, T3 and T5) were watered once in two
days to maintain at Field Capacity. This experiment was
laid out in the Randomized Complete Block Design with
six treatments and four replications and the treatments
were arranged in 3 × 2 factor factorial manner. There
were significant (p<0.05) differences between treatments
in the measured parameters. The highest Leaf Area Index
(0.78), plant dry weight (1.8g), yield (1.0tha-1) and shelling
percentage (59.5%) were obtained in ‘Indi’ groundnut
cultivar under stressed condition whereas the lowest Leaf
Area Index (0.33), plant dry weight (0.9g), yield (0.33tha 1) and shelling percentage (38.6%) were found in ‘Tissa’
under the same condition. Hence, considering the measured
growth attributes, ‘Indi’ groundnut cultivar could withstand
drought better than the rest of the cultivars. As such, this
cultivar could be suggested for cultivation in the drought
prone areas of the Batticaloa district.
