Plant measurements
At the fruiting stage that is, at the beginning of anthesis, plant canopy height was significantly lower in all treatments compared to normal treatment. At the fruit ripening stage though, ss fru showed significantly lower canopy height than all treatments followed by ms fru and ss flo. At fruiting, the shoot growth is more rapid therefore water stress would not significantly reduce canopy height, but during the ripening stages particularly the lag phase, shoot growth declines and vegetative growth may be reduced. Predictably, the ss fru treatment also demonstrated lower levels of fresh weight, dry weight and leaf area.
Conclusion