Effect of osmolytes and plant growth regulating chemicals in overcoming water stress in Bhendi during seed germination

Abstract

Water stress is a serious threat to bhendi as it inhibits seed germination and seedling growth. Seed treatment with osmolytes and plant growth regulating chemicals found to be effective in mitigating water stress. In order to understand the response of bhendi to osmolytes and plant growth regulating chemicals in terms of seed germination and seedling growth, a laboratory experiment was conducted in petriplates using Bhendi CO4 hybrid seeds. Various components such as 50mM Proline, 50mM Trehalose, 50mM Glycine betaine, 100ppm Ascorbic acid, 1% KCl and 100ppm Salicylic acid were used. The water stress was induced by using PEG 6000 at a standardized concentration of -1.5 Bars. In this study, germination percentage was found to be maximum (78.78%) for the seeds treated with 50mM glycine betaine and the seeds treated with 50mM proline recorded the maximum shoot length (7.90 cm), root length (2.23 cm) and total dry matter production (0.42 g) while the seeds treated with 50mM glycine betaine recorded the maximum vigour index (745.86) as well as stress tolerance index (STI) (65.88). Results suggest that the pre-soaking of bhendi seeds in glycine betaine (50mM) under water stress condition can mitigate the effect of water stress, thereby achieve higher germination percentage with high vigour index and STI.