Influence of drought stress on some traits in five mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) genotypes

Drought resistance is a complex quantitative trait, involving interactions of many metabolic pathways related to stress-resistant genes. One strategy to reduce the effect of water stress on crop yield is to use drought tolerant species and cultivars. This study was conducted at the individual garden, Shiraz, Iran in 2010. Five mung bean genotypes including three cultivars Taiwan (G1), Pakistan (G2) and India (G3) and two landraces Marvdasht (G4) and Arsenjan (G5) with diverse characters and origin were studied. These cultivars were planted in pots containing 5 kg pots using a randomized complete block design with three replications under drought stress and non-stress conditions. Initiation of differential irrigation was started at 50% flowering stage and continued through crop maturity. Pots under drought stress were irrigated to FC (Field Capacity) when the weight of each pot reached to 50% of FC. Results of combined analysis of variance across environments showed that all the studied traits except root length trait were influenced by drought stress conditions. Grain yield was affected under drought stress condition and it was reduced about 22.69% compared with non-stress condition that it was probably due to reduce pods weight, pods number plant-1 and Plant dry weight under drought stress. Based on the results of simple and combined analysis of variance of studied traits, India cultivar had the highest grain yield under drought stress and non-stress conditions and Pakistan and Taiwan cultivars had the lowest grain yield in stress and non-stress conditions.