Assessing Morphological and Physiological Crop Functional Traits of Underutilized Crops in Response to Different Nutrient Amendments in Vindhyan Highlands, India

The cultivated crop is frequently subjected to a variety of environmental challenges including drought, salinity, extreme temperature and low moisture levels. In which, drought stress is major factor, which significantly reduces crop survival and productivity, particularly in semi-arid region of the Vindhyan highlands. In response to this stress, millets and traditional crops have evolved a range of morphological and physiological adaptations to withstand these phenomenon. Therefore, the aim of this study is to characterize the morphological and physiological traits of underutilized crops under different nutrient amendments towards the dry conditions. A plot experiment with four treatments viz. control, compost, fertilizer and compost + fertilizer was conducted for eight crop landraces. The results demonstrate plant morpho-physiological traits as well as production were develop in accordance with following trends such as compost + fertilizer > fertilizer > compost > control. This trend was continued in percentage change of production and highest in white maize (41.97%) and ramrahar (36.93%) compared to control. Soil total nitrogen, organic carbon and available phosphate contents were shown a consistent increase from pre-sowing to post-harvest conditions for both cropping seasons in all the treatments. In the context of eco-physiological traits relation, PSR (Photosynthetic rate) was positively associated with plant height in black maize (R = 0.69 P < 0.01), baturi (R = 0.79 P < 0.01), masoor (R = 0.74 P < 0.01) and senduri (R = 0.78 P < 0.01). However, photosynthetic pigment such as, chl a (R = 0.66 P < 0.05) chl b (R = 0.78 P < 0.01) carotenoids (R = 0.71 P < 0.01) in white maize, while chl a (R = 0.84 P < 0.001 ), chl b (R = 0.82 P < 0.01) and carotenoids (R = 0.76 P < 0.01) in baturi positively related with PSR. This study can help policymakers to make a climate-adaptive crop system for better production in dry climatic conditions and livelihood improvement of the local community.