PERFORMANCE OF SOME WHEAT GENOTYPES AT GERMINATION STAGE

This study was carried out to determine whether electrical conductivity can be used for rapid germination testing. For this, 8 traits of 19 wheat genotypes were evaluated to identify better inherent physiological seed quality. According to results of the research; Efe, Kayra, Meta and Basribey genotypes gave better results in terms of the germination percentage than the other genotypes. Besides, while Kadett, Tina, Dropia, Meltem and Gönen gave the highest radicle length and dry weight of radicle, Tina, Kadett, Osmaniye, Syrena and Efe gave the highest shoot length and dry weight respectively. The correlation coefficients between germination percentage and germination index, shoot length were positively significant. Ziyabey and Kadett wheat genotypes were different from other genotypes according to cluster analysis. As a result, electrical conductivity test was found unable to determine the germination test. In second part of the study, we investigated the effects of drought stress on the seed germination and physiological characteristics of seeds. Five levels of osmotic pressure (0, ô€²0.3, ô€²0.9, 1.5, -2.1 MPa) were created by polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000) on wheat varieties. The results showed that the germination percentage, the hypocotyl and radicle lengths of seeds decreased with an increase of PEG 6000 concentration.