Physiological performance of sesame seeds under the water stress at different temperatures

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) shows great economic potential because it can be explored by the national as well as the international market. It can be grown in the second season when it is subject to less favorable weather conditions such as drought during the sowing and emergence. Given this the objective was to evaluate the effect of water stress induced by polyethylene glycol solutions (PEG 6000) at different temperatures in order to asses the physiological quality of sesame seeds. In this work, were used PEG 6000 with different osmotic potentials (0.0 control) and (-0.2, -0.4, -0.6, -0.8, -1.0 -1,2 and -1.4 MPa) at temperatures of 25, 30 and 35 °C. For determine the effect of the treatments it was evaluated seed germination and vigor (first count and length of the primary root and shoot), in a completely randomized, with four replications. The sesame seeds are affected by water stress, with significant reductions in germination and vigor. A temperature of 30 °C favored the germination performance in less restrictive water potentials.