Abstract:
The importance of plant water for the maintenance and turgidity required for plant growth and survival is
widely recognized. The drought resistant plants have smaller water deficit - per - unit decrease in leaf
water potential than more drought susceptible plants. Therefore a field experiment was conducted to
evaluate moisture stress responses on the Net Photosynthetic Rate and yield of chilli cultivars namely; 'MI
1-', Ml-hot' and 'Arunalu'. Moisture stress was imposed for a period of 15 days during the flowering stage
and control plants were watered to field capacity at 5 days interval. The experiment was laid out in the
Randomized Complete Block Design with 2 x 3 factor, factorial arrangement. Moisture stress significantly
(p < 0.05) reduced rhe Ner Photosynthetic Rate [Ps) of all the tested cultivars. The highest Ps (29.7 pmol
COz m-2s-1) was obtained in the 'Arunalu' while the lowest Ps [20.8 pmol COz m'2s-1] was found in the 'MI 1'
under water stress condition. The highest yield [1398 kgha 1) was obtained in the 'Arunalu' and the lowest
[842 kgha 1) was found in the 'MI 1' under water deficit situation. It was found that'Arunalu' was able to
show a substantially high rate of photosynthesis and yield than the other two cultivars under moisture
stress condition. A high Ps found in 'Arunalu' would have caused better growth and development and
thereby better yield under stressful environment. Hence, 'Arunalu' was identified as the most drought
tolerant chilli cultivar among the tested ones which could be suggested for cultivation in the drought
prone areas of the sandy regosols'
