Foliar applied calcium chloride alleviated drought stress in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) by improving growth and yield contributing traits and antioxidant activity.

Drought-induced stress presents a substantial threat as it disrupts the normal growth of cereal crops and leads to decreased yields. The persistent occurrence of drought conditions significantly impacts the growth and development of pearl millet. This study aimed to explore how calcium chloride (CaCl2) regulates the growth of pearl millet when it faces a lack of water. Over two years, field experiments were conducted at the College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Bahadur Sub-Campus Layyah. During the study, we exposed pearl millet to various foliar applications of CaCl2 (0 mg/L, 25 mg/L, 50 mg/L, and 75 mg/L) while subjecting it to two different irrigation conditions: full irrigation and drought stress during the booting stage. Results revealed that a significant reduction in the growth (plant height; PH, stem diameter; SD, fresh leaf weight; FLW, stem fresh weight; SFW, stem dry weight; SDW, root fresh weight; RFW, root dry weight; RDW, and plant dry weight; PDW), yield (panicle length; PL, grain per panicle; GPP, grain weight; GW, thousand grain weight; TGW, grain yield; GY, biological yield; BY, and harvest index; HI), and physiological attributes (membrane stability index; MSI, and soil plant analysis development; SPAD) were found under water drought stress condition, while increment in antioxidant level was observed due to low moisture contents in soil. In both years, foliar applied CaCl2 enhanced all the physiological, growth and yield traits as well as some of the antioxidants like superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). Study concluded that a concentration of 50 mg/L of CaCl2 is optimal for enhancing all examined attributes of pearl millet under both drought and full irrigation conditions. The results strongly advocate for the use of CaCl2 as the most effective treatment for the cultivation of pearl millet in arid and semi-arid regions.