1 Present Address: Division of Plant Physiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012.
2 Present Address: Agricultural Research Station, Sriganganagar-335001.
Seeds of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars IR-28, Jaya, T-23, and IR-8 were subjected to water stress in terms of various external water potentials during seed germination and early seedling growth under osmoticum solution of polyethylene glycol. The cumulative germination percentage and water uptake by germinating seeds declined progressively in response to decreasing external water potentials. However, the retardation of shoot and root lengths was significant only in response to treatments with moisture stresses of higher order (−10 bars). It was concluded that none of the cultivars proved to be resistant to moisture stress under laboratory conditions with respect to seed germination, water uptake and early seedling growth.
