INFLUENCE OF MOISTURE DEFICIT AT GRAIN FILLING STAGE ON GROWTH AND WATER RELATIONS ATTRIBUTES OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.)

The current study was aimed to appraise the responses of maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes to water deficient environment. The research was established in a completely randomized design with three replicates. The plants were harvested after the mature cob stage. The data regarding morphology, yield and water relations traits were recorded. The results showed that drought induced a significant reduction in growth and physiological attributes of maize genotype. The data obtained allowed to identify YH-1898 (G-1) as best genotype at limited water supply while, pearl (G-3) and FH-949 (G-4) showed moderate behavior in terms of morphology, yield and water relations traits. On contrary, maize genotype, HC-9091 (G-5) expressed the lowest resistance to water deficit regarding all mentioned traits. The water deficit tolerant maize genotype, YH-1898 (G-1) showed less reduction in growth and yield related attributes and maintained the values of water relation attributes in moisture stressed plants as those of nonnally irrigated ones.