EFFECT OF DROUGHTAND COMBINED SALT AND HEAT STRESSES ON GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH PATTERNS OF LENTIL

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Food Legumes Res. Section, Field Crops Res. Inst. (FCRI), Agric. Res. Cent. (ARC), Giza Egypt

2 Seed Technol. Res. Section, FCRI, ARC, Giza Egypt

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of combined salt (three salinity
levels of 0.0M, 0.1M and 0.2M NaCl), heat (20 and 30oC) and drought (without drought and drought
stress by polyethylene glycol (PEG) at 8000 ppm) stresses on seed germination, seed and seedlings
vigor traits of three lentil cultivars (Giza 9, Giza 51 and Sinai 1). Increasing temperature from 20oC to
30oC significantly decreased most studied characters. Both salinity levels significantly decreased all
traits comparing with the control treatment (0 salt NaCl). All traits were more sensitive to 0.2M.than
0.1M.NaCl. Effects of drought were insignificant on shoot length, root length, seedling vigor index
and root/shoot ratio. Drought significantly decreased seed germination by 5.6% and seed vigor by
4.87%. Cultivar Giza 9 was more tolerant to drought than the other two cultivars. Gel electrophoresis
(SDS-PAGE) analysis for lentil cultivars under salt stress and drought stress at two different
temperatures produced new protein heat shock protein (HSP) presented under 30oC and was absent
under control treatment. The applied laboratory technique is valid to be used for screening large
number of lentil accessions for their performance under studied stresses as a rapid technique before
screening them for such stresses under field condition.

Keywords