1. MUHAMMAD ARIF IBRAHIM - Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan.
2. MUHAMMAD AOWN SAMMAR RAZA - Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
3. RASHID IQBAL - Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan.
4. MUHAMMAD USMAN ASLAM - Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan.
5. MUHAMMAD ASGHAR SHAHID - Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan.
6. JAWAD AMIN - Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Pakistan.
7. MUHAMMAD ARSHAD JAVED - Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab
Lahroe, Pakistan.
Soil carbon and Organic components can be amended by supplying appropriate sources rich in Nitrogen and carbon. Nano biochar can be used to lift up soil fertility status and soil moisture. Water shortage at critical crop growth and development stages reduces crop final product. Study under discussion was carried out to determine optimized level of Nano biochar at optimum period to avoid economic and yield losses. 5 treatments (NBC0-Control, NBC1@ 0.25 %, NBC2 @ 0.50 %, NBC3 @ 0.75 % and NBC4 @ 1.00 %) and 3 drought treatments (D0 = Control, D1 = Drought at tillering and D2 = Drought at anthesis) were used in this experiment. Drought at anthesis was identified as most damaging compared to other induced drought levels. Study revealed that all applied NBC levels acted as anti-drought agents however, NBC3= 0.75 % acted as best anti-drought agent by showing higher crop growth and other attributes essential in determining crop yield. NBC4 @1 % (100g) increased leaf area index by 25.6%, RWC 18.3%, chlorophyll content 35.5%, stomatal conductance 6.9% and Bio-chemical attributes such as APX 28.4% %, CAT 16.1 %, POD 15.7 % and SOD by 33.5 % at control treatment (D0). Similar trends were seen at D1 and D2 as well. At D2, 23.5%, 26.05%, 8.01%, 23.5% increases were observed for plant height, number of fertile tillers, spike length and grain yield respectively.
Biochar, Tillering, Anthesis, Catalase, APX.