Evaluation of Upland Rice Response to Water Stress Using Polyethylene Glycol (PEG -6000) at Germination and Early Seedling Stage

Abstract

Water stress is one of the most important crop growth limiting factors which leads to low crop productivity and yield instability. Water stress affects crop growth and development, especially during the germination and seedling period. The experiment was conducted in the growth chamber at the seed physiology laboratory of the Department of Seed, Crop and Horticultural Sciences, University of Eldoret to evaluate sixteen upland rice varieties to water stress tolerance at germination and early seedling growth stage. These varieties were tested against four levels of water stress imposed by Polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG - 6000) at 0%, 5%,10% and 15% concentration. The lay out of the experiment was complete randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Osmotic stress induced by PEG levels significantly (P