Abstract
The effect of drought stress on the germination and growth of nine cultivars/lines of lentil, ILL 5845, ILL 6451, ILL 6788, ILL 6793, ILL 6796, ILL 6439, ILL 6778, Local Masoor and Masoor 18-10 was assessed. Treatments comprised three and six drought cycles. The plants were grown in pots. Increasing drought stress intensity (-0.4 MPa and -0.8 MPa of polyethylene glycol 8000) had no significant effect on total germination of all the cultivarsj'lines, but there was significant effect on rate of germination. ILL 6439, Local Masoor and Masoor 18-10 had considerably higher speed of germination compared with the other cultivars/Iines at all the polyethylene glycol treatments. ILL 6439 and ILL 6451 produced significantly greater biomass compared with the other cultivars/lines, There was no significant effect of drought on total soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates but total free amino acids increased significantly in tolerant accession, ILL 6439. The remaining cuhivars/lines did not show any consistent difference in their drought resistance.
