Evaluating the Impact of Osmotic Stress on Wheat Seedlings for Drought Adaptation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55627/agrivet.004.02.01371Keywords:
Balochistan, Drought Tolerance, Seedling Traits, Osmotic Stress, Wheat VarietiesAbstract
Wheat stands as the most extensively cultivated staple food crop worldwide, playing a vital role in food security across diverse regions, including Pakistan. Low moisture content during the growing season at various growth stages significantly reduces crop yield. In present study, thirteen (13) local wheat varieties were tested in a factorial completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications under normal and artificial osmotic stressed condition. The experiment was conducted in a growth chamber with optimum growing conditions using petri plates. Two sets of treatments, i.e., normal distilled water (T1) and 15% polyethylene glycol (PEG-8000) simulated stress conditions (T2), were applied for fifteen days and data were recorded for various seedling traits. Results indicated significant variation among the tested varieties for almost all studied seedling traits. However, the PEG Treatment × Varieties interaction was found to be non-significant for root length, shoot length, and seedling length. The mean performance of all seedling traits displayed drastic decrease under osmotic stress condition as compared to normal water. Overall, the varieties Tijaban-10 and K-98 demonstrated stable performance across both environments, whereas variety Anaj-17 and Wadan was recognized most drought-sensitive based on contribution of seedling traits. Conclusively, the seedling traits of Tijaban-10 and K-98 demonstrated stability under osmotic stress conditions. These varieties are recommended for future breeding programs to develop drought-tolerant wheat varieties suited to Balochistan's climate.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Babar Ali, Ghulam Rasool, Atta Ullah, Mehwish Shoaib, Nanak Khan, Muhammad Waris, Ahmed Ali, Khalil Asghar, Kamran Hashim, Aamir Azeem
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