Effect of water stress on morphological traits, mucilage percentage and yield of Alyssum homolocarpum

A pot experiment was carried out to study the impacts of water stress upon physiological and biochemical properties as well as seed yield and yield components of alyssum homolocarpum. the factors were water stress (80%), the capacity of field (60%) as well as, field capacity (40%) within three stages of growth, stem elongation, flowering and seed setting, as well. result showed that water stress within three stages of growth was reduced plant height, component yield and seed yield and increased superoxide dismutase (sod), peroxidase (pod) and catalase (cat) activity. water stress increased content of proline, soluble sugar and malondialdehyde (mda). the content of calcium (ca) and magnesium (mg) decreased in 40% and 60% field capacity at stem elongation stage compared to control. as water stress increased, mucilage percentage increased. in 40% field capacity at elongation stage alyssum did not have seed yield. in this stress level, at flowering stage and seed setting, seed yield decreased by 85% and 68% compared to control, respectively. result indicated that most sensitive growth stage to the water stress in alyssum homalocarpum was stem elongation, thus, it was suggested that this plant must be irrigated at stem elongation to produce acceptable yield.