Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) induced Drought Stress on Seed Germination of Rice

Author: G.K. Nandhitha, K. Vanitha, C.N. Chandrasekhar, P. Jeyakumar, D. Sudhakar and R. Saraswathi

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Abstract

Water is now a scare commodity in all parts of world, projected climate changes will aggravate the situation in future. Drought is a abiotic stress that limits the production of all the crops, which affects growth, development and yield of rice. A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the germination characteristics of 25 rice genotypes under two levels of osmotic stress under Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Polyethylene glycol 6000 was used as an osmoticum. Total germination, mean germination rate, germination index, root length, shoot length, root length stress tolerance index and root shoot ratio were recorded. The results showed that with increasing of osmoticum concentration (water stress), germination and seedling morphological characters were decreased, when compared with control. The genotypes namely vedhividangan, naveen, swarnamukhi, improved kavuni, vellaichithiraikar, kayamma exhibited tolerance in the higher concentration of osmoticum. The variations among the genotypes for germination characters were observed and Root Length Stress Index (RLSI) was found to be a reliable indicator to screen the drought tolerant genotypes at germination and seedling stage in rice.

Keywords

Drought, Rice, Germination, Polyethylene glycol, Screening

Conclusion

Rice genotypes remained highly sensitive to drought stress during seed germination. The present investigation also determined that germination and seedling growth were affected in rice genotypes by increasing the levels of water stress. In response to water stress, Vedhividangan, Naveen, Swarnamukhi, Kavuni, Vellaichithiraikar, and Kayamma exhibited tolerance to the higher concentration of -2.5 bars of PEG as compared to others.

References

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How to cite this article

G.K. Nandhitha, K. Vanitha, C.N. Chandrasekhar, P. Jeyakumar, D. Sudhakar and R. Saraswathi (2022). Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) induced Drought Stress on Seed Germination of Rice. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 1289-1293.