Impact of Drought Stress on Germination and Seedling Growth Parameters of Some Wheat Cultivars

With a view to understand the parameters which can be used as a quick criteria for drought tolerance, the present investigation has been performed to evaluate eight wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, four local cultivars (Madini, Kaseemi, Yamanei and Tabokei) and four introduced cultivars (Sakha 93, Giza 168, Seds 12 and Masr 1) from Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt, to drought stress induced by polyethylene Glycol (PEG)6000 at different concentration 0.0, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 g/l PEG during germination and seedling growth stage of plant development. Five germination parameters; finally germination percentage, mean daily germination, germination index, mean germination time and coefficient of velocity of germination and eight seedling growth parameters; shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, seedling length and root number were measured under experiment conditions. Experiment units were arranged factorial completely randomized design with three replications. Mean comparison showed that the highest value for most of parameters were recorded for Sakha 93 and Madini cultivars followed by Yamanei, Kaseemi and Tabokei. With due attention to interaction cultivars x drought levels, cultivars Masr 1, Giza 186, Seds 12 under 120, 180, 240 and 300 g/l PEG6000 had the lowest value of noted parameters than other cultivars. Results of variance analysis made clear that different osmotic potential had significant effect on all parameters except root dry weight. In contrast, using all germination and seedling growth parameters, except root number, under study can used as a selectable parameters to discrimination between tolerance and sensitive cultivars under drought stress in breeding programs and laboratory experiment would appear to be suitable for screening under drought stress. [Omar A. Almaghrabi Impact of Drought Stress on Germination and Seedling Growth Parameters of Some Wheat Cultivars. Life Science Journal 2012; 9(1):590-598]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 87