Abstract
Drought is major yield limiting factor in agriculture. Being perishable in nature vegetables are much more sensitive to
drought stress compared to agronomic crops. Efficacy of two salicylic acid doses viz., 1mM and 2mM was evaluated on
different growth stages of okra grown under 50% water stress. Study was conducted in Faisalabad during summer months of
2012-13. Data regarding morphological traits (plant height, root length, root shoot ratio and leaf area), physiological traits
(cell membrane permeability, relative leaf water contents, photosynthetic rate and net assimilation rate) and yield related
traits (total pods per plant, pod weight, fruit and seed yield per hectare) were recorded during both years. Results revealed
that application of 1mM salicylic acid spray at 2+4 leaf stage as well as 2+4+flowering was equally effective in improving
all morphological traits except root length. However, in other traits (physiological and yield) application of salicylic acid at
all three growth stages (2+4+flowering stage) remained significantly superior than the application of salicylic acid at first
two growth stages (2+4 leaf stage). Overall, application of 2mM spray at all growth stages of okra (2+4+flowering stage)
was found to be most effective in improving all the traits under study consistently during both the years. From the results of
this experiment we may conclude that foliar application of 2mM salicylic acid at 2 and 4 leaves, and flowering stage of okra
can be effectively used for drought mitigation in okra.
