1Research Scholar, Department of Botany, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, 144001, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, 144001, India
3Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, 144001, India
In arid and semi-arid areas the drought conditions are a crucial challenge to wheat production. To overcome these conditions developing/growing drought tolerant wheat varieties in these areas could improve the wheat productivity. 30bread wheat varieties were evaluated against drought stress. Present study evaluated seedling growth along with germination of bread wheat genotypes under polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG) induced moisture stress in In vitro conditions. Along with control (0 MPa) two PEG 6000 mediated osmotic concentration (-0.3 and -0.6 MPa) were involved to study the seeds germination percentage, shoot and root length, fresh/dry weight of shoot and root. The result observed that the seedling traits decreased with increasing polyethylene glycol concentration. According to the results, wheat genotypes HI 8713, Raj 4037 and MP 3288 were significantly superior in maximum studied parameters and shows tolerance against drought conditions than other varieties. Wheat genotypes K 0307, UP 2565, K 9644, JW 17, PBW 725, VL 804 and WHB 1 were also drought resistant.
Wheat, Osmotic stress, Polyethylene glycol 6000, Germination, Shoot length
