Abstract

The use of D-Mannitol, sugar and other salt solutions to test drought hardiness is a simple, easily repeated test which gives a relative measure of any differences among varieties for this character. This consists of germination of seeds in various osmotic solutions and the assumption involved is that if a seed can germinate by absorbing water against a high osmotic gradient, the resulting plant could also absorb water better on account of its high osmotic pressure. The present study consists of experiments that were conducted to determine the influence of simulated drought on the germination of six grain Sorghum varieties in osmotic solutions with a view to evaluate them for drought resistance.

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