Effects of Polyethylene Glycol-Induced Water Stress on the Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Different Sorghum Genotypes

Globally, abiotic stress is the primary cause of crop loss, reducing the average yields of most major crop plants by more than 50% (Bray et. al., 2000). Drought stress is one of the most widespread environmental stresses when the total area of arable land is classified according to the occurrence of various stress factors (Arora et al., 2002). Drought and other abiotic stresses limit the photosynthetic activity of various crops, which in turn reduces the production of photosynthetic assimilates. Almost every developmental stage of the plant is affected by water stress. However, it has been observed that drought stress is more damaging to plants at the growth and germination stages, affecting seedling shoot length, flowering, and root length (Khayatnezhad, et al., 2010