Abstract

Studies were conducted to find out the effect of reduced water potential treatments on germination and five seedling growth related characters viz., plumule length, radicle length, vigour index, promptness index and germination stress index in mung bean genotypes. Decreasing water potential or increasing moisture stress adversely affected germination and all seedling growth related characters in that every attribute was significantly reduced with every level of decreasing water potentials. The extent of reduction varied with the genotypes and the reduced water potential. However, the reduced water potential at -0.25MPa did not affect germination. Four genotypes recorded no germination at -1.00MPa and this would be critical level of water stress for mungbean. Five genotypes viz., KM 2, Vamban 1, Pusa 9072, K 1, and TARM 1 with higher germination stress index were found to possess higher level of tolerance to drought.

Keywords: Water potential, Germination, Stress index.