Responses of seed germination and seedling growth of Arabidopsis thaliana to drought and NaCl stress

This paper studies the polyethylene glycol(PEG-6000) employed as osmoticum for simulating drought and NaCl for salt stress to identify the seed germination and seedling growth of Arabidopsis.Results showed that drought stress or high salinity retards seed germination of Arabidopsis in the early stage.The rate of seed germination and seedling growth decreased significantly and semi-inhibitory concentration was 10%(PEG-6000) and 150 mmol/L.The critical value of seed growth was 25%(PEG-6000) and 250 mmol/L NaCl respectively.The contents of malondialdehyde(MDA) and proline increased remarkably with the increase of PEG or NaCl concentration.These findings indicate that the osmoticum and salt stress might damage the cell membrane of the seedling and the plants responded to stress by compounded proline contents.