Germination, seedling growth and physio-biochemical indices of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum l.) genotypes under peg induced drought stress

Abstract

The establishment of seedlings at early growth stages of plants is one of the important determinants for higher yield potential under stress conditions. Therefore, high germination rate and vigorous seedling growth under water stress conditions is preferred to increase productivity. Considering this issue, an experiment was conducted to know the response of drought stress on the germination and seedling growth traits of available wheat cultivars. The study was carried out at the Laboratory of Horticulture in Agriculture Faculty, Cukurova University, Turkey. Seeds of five bread wheat genotypes viz. Wafia, Lucilla, Envoy, DZ19-2 and DZ19-1 were placed and grown in Petri-dishes under polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) induced drought stresses of 0 (control=distilled water), -0.2, -0.4 and -0.6 MPa conditions for evaluation the properties of germination and seedling growth. Regarding the root length and dry weight, the genotypes Wafia, Lucilla and DZ19-1were found superior and seemed to be relatively tolerant to drought stress over other genotypes. Regarding biochemical analysis, the proline content increased with increasing drought levels, where the maximum proline was observed in the DZ19-1 genotype. Due to drought stress, the shoot proline content increased in drought-tolerant wheat genotypes whereas the proline level decreased in the sensitive ones compared to the control. Considering the study, the genotype DZ19-1 can be treated as drought tolerant genotype, and further investigations are needed, however, to support our understanding of the drought stress effects during the whole life cycle of wheat.