effect of drought and salinity stresses on germination indices of vetch (vicia villosa l.)

one of the important issues in the arid and semi-arid regions is the water deficit and soil salinity. therefore, selecting tolerant species to salinity and drought especially in seed germination and emergence stage is important. in the present study the effects of drought and salt stress on seed germination of vetch (vicia villosa l.) which is palatable forage was investigated. the germination percentage, germination rate, plumule and radicle, seed vigor and alometric coefficient under both stresses were recorded. a completely randomised design was carried out using six salinity treatments (control distilled water, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 mm nacl) and six drought treatments (control, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 mpa polyethylene glycol 6000). for each treatment 15 seeds in petri dish were placed as replicate and put in gerrminator for two weeks. results showed that both stresses significantly (p<0.001) influenced seed germination trait as a result we found a significant reduction of percentage of seed germination, seed germination rate, plumule and radicle, alometric coefficient, and seed vigor. seed germination was found up to 300 mm nacl and 0.2 mpa whereas the growth of stem and root stopped at 100 and 200 mm nacl, respectively.