Morphological responses of a high yielding groundnut cultivar (Arachishypogaea L. cv. K-134 ) under water stress.

The present study was undertaken to ascertain the morphological responses of a groundnut cultivar K-134, under different water stress regimes characterized as control, mild, moderate and severe stress represented by 100, 75, 50 and 25% soil moisture levels respectively for eight days. Root length increased over control at mild, moderate stress treatments and inhibited at severe stress conditions on all days of sampling. Severe stress treatments had caused significant inhibition in shoot growth on day-4 and 8. The fresh and dry weights of roots and leaves and leaf area decreased over control in all stress treatments except under mild stress on day-4. The changes in theses parameters were dependent on stress severity and duration.