Seed Germination and Early Seedling Growth of Barley at Negative Water Potentials

Abstract

The impacts of climate change may increase the duration and frequency of droughts, which would have deleterious effects on crop establishment. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of moisture stress on seed germination and seedling growth of six winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) lines and discuss how the data are used to select plant materials for rapid germination. Twenty-five seeds of each line were germinated in water of potentials of −2.0, −1.6, −1.2, −0.8, −0.4, and 0 MPa for 4- and 7-days. The experimental design was a factorial arrangement of treatments (barley lines and water potential treatments) in a randomized block replicated four times and repeated twice. The 4- and 7-day percentage seed germination varied with line (p < 0.01), water potential treatment (p < 0.01), and line × treatment interactions (p < 0.01). The seed germination rate varied with water potential treatment (p < 0.01), and line × treatment interactions (p < 0.01). The data indicated that enough variation was present to effectively select and breed cultivars for improved germination at a negative water potential. Studying seed germination under moisture stress is the first step for developing an effected selection pressure for identifying plant materials with rapid seed germination.