Effect of PEG-6000 induced drought stress on seed germination in Maize (Zea mays)

Drought stress is one of the most important crop growth limiting factors leading to lower crop productivity and is considered as one of the most important abiotic factor which adversely affects crop production. Maize is known to be susceptible to drought stress, which negatively affects vegetative growth and biomass production, as well as the formation of reproductive organs and yield parameters. Germination of each seed is considered as the first and most important fundamental life stage of a plant as the success in growth and yield production is liable on this stage. To study the effect of PEG (polyethylene glycol) on germination of maize crops an experiment was conducted at seed technology lab, SKUAST-K Shalimar. Length of radical (cm), number of laterals, number of seminals and root biomass (g) were measured under different concentrations of PEG-6000 viz 0% (Control), 5%, 10% and 20%. All parameters estimated in this experiment across all the genotypes showed progressive decline with increase in PEG concentrations from 0 to 20%.