Influence of Salicylic Acid under Different Levels of Drought Stress on Growth, Yield, and Chemical Content in Sesame Crop.

Abstract: Drought is an environmental element that impacts crop production in the Kurdistan region. Salicylic acid plays an essential role in the development of tolerance to several environmental stresses. The factorial experiment 4*4 was designed in (RCBD) with three replications to determine the effect of foliar applied under different levels of drought on growth, yield, and chemical content in crop sesame. The study concluded that four irrigation schedules based on the available water depletion ratio; (D0 (40 %), D1 (60 %), D2 (80 %), and D3 (100 % depletion of available water) and four concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (C0) = 0 ppm (only spray with water) were considered as a control (C1) of 100 ppm, (C2) of 200 ppm, and (C3) of 300 ppm of SA. Studied traits were plant height, capsules per plant, seed per capsule, seed yield, weight of 1000 seeds, plant dry weight, biological yield, harvest index, oil, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, carbohydrate, and proline. The results showed that application of SA has a huge impact on seed yield under drought, where the highest value of seed yield was 2.30 g in concentrations (200 ppm) of SA. Levels of 100% depletion of available water have a huge negative impact on seed, where the highest value of seed yield was 2.25 g under 60% depletion of available water but the lowest value was 1.50 g under levels of 100% depletion of available water, while the application of salicylic acid (200 ppm) promotes seed yield and exhibits promising prospects for enhancing plant performance under depletion of available water.