In vitro influence of water potential induced by polyethylene glycol on the morphophysiology of wheat

Abstract

Plant´s growing depends on several environmental factors that determine their productivity. Drought is a limiting factor for crop production. The aim of this study was the establishment of a protocol for evaluating in vitro, the water stress effect on wheat seedlings. Treatments consisted of simulating the following water potentials (-0.1; -0.2; -0.3 and -0.4 MPa) using PEG - 6000 and the control. The experimental design was completely randomized with five treatments and five repetitions. It was evaluated morphological and physiological parameters such as: relative water content (RWC), membrane stability index (MEI) and the roots morphology by microscopy. As results, we observed that -0.3 MPa (PEG 6000 151.41 g L-1) osmotic potential and the 5 days period provided similar effects of water shortage as that one occurring at green house conditions, which is suitable for simulating this abiotic stress at laboratory conditions.