Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Induced Changes in Germination, Seedling Growth and Water Relation Behavior of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes

Pre-sowing seed treated with Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) assumed to be a potential priming agent to increase the germination, seedling growth and water relation behavior of grain. With this view, a lab investigation was carried out to find out the effect of various PEG concentrations on the germination, seedling growth and water relation behavior of wheat. Seeds of ESWYT-5, ESWYT -6 and ESWYT-7 wheat genotypes and BARI Gom 28 were pre-soaked in water with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% PEG solutions. Results of the study revealed that seed priming enhanced germination, seedling growth and water relation behavior of wheat genotypes. Among four wheat genotypes, ESWYT-5 performed the best regarding germination, seedling growth and water relation behavior where wheat genotypes ESWYT-6 and BARI Gom 28 performed moderately and ESWYT-7 showed consistently poor performance. All the characters showed the best results when wheat seeds treated with 10% PEG solution compared to nonprime and hydro primed seeds and the value decreased gradually with increasing PEG concentration. These results suggest that seed priming had significant effect to boost the germination, seedling growth and water relation behavior of wheat genotypes.