Paclobutrazol Improves Sesame Yield by Increasing Dry Matter Accumulation and Reducing Seed Shattering Under Rainfed Conditions

Abstract

Several biotic and abiotic stresses significantly decrease the biomass accumulation and seed yield of sesame crops under rainfed areas. However, plant growth regulators (such as Paclobutrazol) can improve the total dry matter and seed production of the sesame crop. The effects of the paclobutrazol application on dry matter accumulation and seed yield had not been studied before in sesame under rainfed conditions. Therefore, a two-year field study during 2018 and 2019 was conducted with key objectives to assess the impacts of paclobutrazol on leaf greenness, leaf area, total dry matter production and partitioning, seed shattering, and seed yield of sesame. Two sesame cultivars (TS-5 and TS-3) were treated with four paclobutrazol concentrations (P0 = Control, P1 = 100 mg L−1, P2 = 200 mg L−1, P3 = 300 mg L−1). The experiment was executed in RCBD-factorial design with three replications. Compared with P0, treatment P3 improved the leaf greenness of sesame by 17%, 38%, and 60% at 45, 85, and 125 days after sowing, respectively. However, P3 treatment decreased the leaf area of sesame by 14% and 20% at 45 and 85 days after sowing than P0, respectively. Compared with P0, treatment P3 increased the leaf area by 46% at 125 days after sowing. On average, treatment P3 also improved the total biomass production by 21% and partitioning in roots, stems, leaves, capsules, and seeds by 23%, 19%, 23%, 22%, and 40%, respectively, in the whole growing seasons as compared to P0. Moreover, under P3 treatment, sesame attained the highest seed yield and lowest seed shattering by 27% and 30%, respectively, compared to P0. This study indicated that by applying the paclobutrazol concentration at the rate of 300 mg L−1 in sesame, the leaf greenness, leaf areas, biomass accumulation, partitioning, seed yield, and shatter resistance could be improved. Thus, the optimum paclobutrazol level could enhance the dry matter accumulation and seed production capacity of sesame by decreasing shattering losses under rainfed conditions.

Can sulphur improve the nutrient uptake, partitioning, and seed yield of sesame?

“…This increase might be associated with optimum S availability to sesame plants (Raza et al 2018b), which increases the photosynthesis ability of sesame due to the enhanced chlorophyll biosynthesis and Rubisco activity (Resurreccion et al 2001;Singh et al 2018), and improves the nutrient uptake due to increased water flow from the rhizosphere, (Muchow and Davis 1988;Elliott et al 1997). Moreover, the biomass partitioning also followed the previously reported trend, where the vegetative parts had the maximum proportion of biomass at the start of the seed filling phase (MB) while at the end of the seed filling phase (PM), reproductive parts showed a significant increase in the proportion of accumulated biomass (Narayanan and Reddy 1982;Atta and Van Cleemput 1988;Couch et al 2017;Mehmood et al 2021). The possible reason for this improvement in reproductive biomass was the increased assimilate production by sesame stems and capsules which retained longer than leaves, and remobilization of assimilates from senescing leaves towards the capsules and developing seed tissues.…”

Transcriptome analysis reveals the molecular mechanism of yield increases in maize under stable soil water supply

“…In this study, the accumulation of dry matter in plants under SW conditions was significantly higher than that of plants under DW conditions. Accumulation of dry matter is the basis for the formation of corn yield and the increase in accumulation of dry matter is conducive to the increase of the final yield of maize [25,26]. The increase in accumulation of dry matter is directly related to the amount of photosynthetic products [27].…”

Yield and quality improvement in Bt cotton through foliar application of trifloxystrobin and tebuconazole

“…Higher TDMP was recorded in Nativo treated plants than the control plants by the application of strobilurin combined with triazole as reported earlier by Lima et al (2012) in banana, Ruske et al (2003) in wheat and Rezende et al, 2018 in maize. The exogenous application of triazole compounds significantly altered the total biomass accumulation and partitioning patterns in sesame (Mehmood et al, 2021). Enhanced nutrient and water translocation within the plants under triazole compounds application increase the biomass production of plants (Kamran et al 2018;Kuai et al 2015).…”