Assessment of Broccoli Cultivars’ Resistance to Drought Induced by Polyethylene Glycol During Germination and Seedling Growth

The "queen of vegetables" broccoli, is grown worldwide in a wide array of cultivars. Broccoli grows well in West Bengal's Terai region and helps a higher income for the farmers. This study tested eleven broccoli cultivars under three Polyethylene glycol induced osmotic stress settings (-0.4, -0.8, and -1.2 MPa) and a control set to determine the best. GREEN MAGIC had the lowest Mean Germination Time and Reduction of Germination values at -0.8 and -1.2 MPa, respectively, indicating faster germination and higher seed viability than other cultivars. Moreover, GREEN MAGIC has lowest shoot and root phytotoxicity. Further, GREEN MAGIC had the highest Root Length Stress Tolerance Index, Plant Height Stress Tolerance Index, and Shoot Height Stress Tolerance Index values, proving its resilience under stress. GREEN MAGIC was the sole cultivar that by and large, outperformed others under osmotic stress conditions for various morphological features and indices. Thus, the morphological comparison of this experiment clearly indicates that GREEN MAGIC is the cultivar that is most resistant to osmotic stress conditions and should be preferred among the eleven common cultivars.