Abstract

To study the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) stress on germination and early growth stages on two inbred lines of maize, experiment were laid out at seed laboratory, in Iran in 2012. This investigation was performed as factorial experiment under completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Inbred line factor consist of two inbred lines (MO17 and B73) and four levels of stress (0, -3, -6 and -9 bar). The principal aim of current study was to compare the two lines of maize in relative to the stress conditions. Results indicated that significant decrease was observed in germination percentage (92.7%), germination rate (59.4%), length of radicle (89%), length of plumule (98.7%), length of seedling (92.5%) and seed vigour (99.6%). The mean germination time (MGT) and radicle/plumule length ratio increased with decrease in the osmotic potential of PEG solution. Inbred line MO17 produced the highest germination percentage, length of radicle, length of seedling, radicle/plumule length ratio and seed vigour; therefore, this line was tolerant higher than inbred line B73 to drought stress.

Key words: Early growth, germination, MO17 and B73, polyethylene glycol (PEG) stress