study of germination and seedling growth in tolerant and susceptible chickpea (cicer arietinum l.) genotypes under drought stress

in order to study, the effects of drought stress on germination and seedling growth of chickpea genotypes, experiments were carried out on two susceptible genotypes (mcc68, mcc448) and two resistant genotypes (mcc392, mcc877). in the first experiment the seeds were sown under different levels of drought stress (0,-0.4,-0.8,-1.2mpa) in 25◦c at the growth chamber with 4 replication. the results showed that percentage of germination, germination rate, radicle and plumela length and dry weight of shoot and root decreased by increasing levels of drought stress. mcc392 and mcc68 genotypes had the highest percentage of germination, germination rate, length and dry weight of shoot and root in drought stress, but mcc877 had the lowest percentage of germination and germination rate. mcc877 genotype showed higher decrease in length and dry weight of shoot and root than mcc448 genotype. in the second experiment morphological parameters were investigated in control (75% fc) and drought stress (25% fc) conditions. drought stress decreased length and dry weight of shoot and root in mcc877 and mcc448 genotypes compared to mcc392 and mcc68 genotypes. these result showed that mcc392 and mcc68 genotypes were the best genotypes under simulated drought condition and it may be due to the fact that these genotypes are resistant to drought stress.