Date Received: 07-02-2017 / Date Accepted: 14-03-2017
Mustard greens(Brassica juncea(L.)Czern.) is widely grown and plays an important role in local vegetable production. However, drought has serious effecton growth and development of mustard greens. This research aimedto examine the role of moisturizing polymers on growth, development and drought tolerance in mustard greens. Results showed that the use ofsubstratecontaining moisturizing polymers helped maintain humidity in the soilandcreateright conditions for seed germination and plant health. Substrates supplemented with 5% of moisturizing polymers yielded the highest rate of germination (91.11%), good plant growth (21.75cm of plant height, 22.09 cm of canopy diameter, 6.73 of leaves number, 12,10 cm of leaf width, 21.17cm of leaf length, 185.64cm2of leaf area), and highest leaf yield (61.41g/plant). Addition of polymers also helped retain soil moisture and lower moisture loss and improve plant growth. 10 days after water withholding, proline concentration increased only 3.6 times in the plants grownin medium containing 5% of moisturizing polymes whereas it increased 93 times in control plants.
