Effect of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress on germination and seedling development of capsicum varieties

Effect of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress on germination and seedling development of capsicum varieties | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effect of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress on germination and seedling development of capsicum varieties Prabina Bhujel, Pankaj Kumar Yadav, Suman Karki, Asha Sharma This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4007557/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Food security is one of the major global challenges of the twenty-first century. Crop yield is estimated to decline by 5 to 30% from 2050 onwards compared to 1990. Climate change has a major impact on crop production. Drought stress is a significant environmental factor affecting plant growth and crop productivity and understanding its impact on capsicum production is crucial for development of drought-tolerant varieties. This experiment was carried out to find the drought tolerant varieties. The study was conducted in two factorial completely randomized designs with three replications, subjecting capsicum seeds of four different varieties to three different polyethylene glycol concentrations. The observation revealed that Boxer and California wonder showed statistically similarity in most of the growth parameters where Ganga showed significantly reduced performances in few parameters at seedling stage with increase in PEG concentration. Unlike these varieties, Red Variety showed drastic reduction in all the parameters. Results showed these varieties were more tolerant even up to higher drought conditions up to -0.36 MPa, but the red variety was susceptible even to lower drought conditions (-0.18 MPa). The four capsicum varieties were grouped into two clusters, with the Red variety genotype in one and Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga under another. The promising varieties Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga were identified as drought tolerant and can be utilized in breeding programs aimed at developing drought tolerant capsicum varieties or can be recommended in areas with lower irrigation facilities. Based on the results, it is recommended to explore the genetic basis of drought tolerance in capsicum genotypes. This can be achieved through genetic studies, such as quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and genomic selection, to identify the key genes and markers associated with drought tolerance in these tolerant varieties Boxer, Ganga, and California Wonder. Furthermore, breeding programs should be initiated to develop new capsicum varieties with enhanced drought tolerance, incorporating the identified drought-tolerant genetic traits and genes. Horticulture Plant Physiology and Morphology Climate change Drought Food security Stress Capsicum Tolerant Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 1. Introduction 1.1 Background Capsicum ( Capsicum annuum L.) commonly known as sweet pepper or bell pepper is a valuable commodity of the Solanaceae family. It can be utilized both fresh and dry, making it ideal for a wide variety of culinary applications. Warsi (2013) claims that capsicum is a valuable commodity due to their high vitamin content, antioxidant properties, and versatility in food processing. These numerous advantages bolstered capsicum's already significant value as a strategic item in the national economy. Capsicum has enormous potential for growth in Nepal. However, there is now a gap between supply and demand, despite its widespread cultivation in subtropical and tropical regions (Arifianto & Kartika, 2018). Several problems, such as plant disease disturbances and environmental stress conditions, continue to limit the success of capsicum farming. Yields are low because of the long dry season, which also contributes to dryness on farmland (Yusniwati et al., 2008). The pepper plant, related to chilies, is very drought-and heat-sensitive and sensitive to light (Aminifard et al., 2010; Tulung & Demmassabu, 2011). The rate of growth, maturity and biomass accumulation of farmed plants can all be altered by drought stress. Drought is a multidimensional environmental constraint that can provoke crops responses from the molecular to the ecological level (Hamanishi & Campbell, 2011). Plants respond physiologically to drought stress by accumulating proline molecules, which operate as osmoregulatory and osmoprotectant chemicals for cell membranes. Compared to optimal environmental conditions, the proline content of plant leaves increased when plants were exposed to drought (Yusniwati et al., 2008). Drought is associated with osmotic stress, which alters ion transport and homeostasis in the cell, lowering agricultural productivity (Kumar, 2013). It inhibits cell expansion, growth, and elongation more than cell division, reducing rice seedling germination and resulting in a drop in tiller numbers and plant height (Ashfaq et al., 2014). Plant biomass production is impeded as a result of water stress, limiting plant growth and output substantially (Sahebi et al., 2018). Drought tolerance refers to the plant's capacity to tolerate water scarcity. Drought sensitivity is greater in cultivated crops than in indigenous landraces (Zhang et al., 2018; Daryanto et al., 2017). Various methods have been employed from time to time to identify drought-tolerant genotypes and efforts have been made in the past to screen capsicum varieties that differed in drought tolerance (George et al., 2013). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) compounds are used to induce osmotic stress in Petri dishes (in vitro) for plants to maintain uniform water potential during the experimental period. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used often as an abiotic stress inducer in many studies to screen drought-tolerant germplasm (Turkan et al., 2005; Landjeva et al., 2008; Ahmad et al., 2013; Jatoi et al., 2014). Several reports have shown that in vitro screening technique using PEG is one of the dependable approaches for the selection of desirable genotypes to study in detail water scarcity on plant germination indices (Sakthivelu et al., 2008; Konate et al., 2021). Identification of capsicum varieties that can withstand inadequate water conditions is vital to increase crop production and this can be accomplished only by exploring the drought-tolerant varieties of capsicum. The current study was planned to find out appropriate criteria for simple and quick screening of capsicum genotypes that have a higher tolerance to drought. To achieve this we intend to understand the effect of different PEG-6000 concentrations on germination, root length, and shoot length of selective capsicum genotypes. This helps to find out the optimized concentration for quick screening of a large number of mutagenized capsicum genotypes. 1.2 Statement of the problem Drought stress is a significant environmental factor that can severely impact crop productivity of capsicum ( Capsicum annuum L.). As global climate change continues to alter precipitation patterns, understanding how capsicum varieties respond to drought stress at the germination and seedling stages becomes crucial for sustainable agriculture. This study aims to investigate the effect of PEG (Polyethylene glycol)-induced drought stress on the germination and seedling development of different capsicum varieties. Drought stress can lead to reduced germination percentages, delayed seedling emergence, and compromised seedling growth. However, the response of capsicum varieties to drought stress may vary, depending on their genetic makeup and adaptive traits. By subjecting various capsicum varieties to controlled drought stress conditions using PEG, this research seeks to identify varieties that exhibit greater tolerance to PEG-induced drought stress, providing valuable insights for breeding programs aimed at developing drought-resistant capsicum varieties. “Climate change” has a negative impact on agriculture production. Yield and yield components of capsicum are most affected by drought; 99% yield loss followed by 88% reduction in no. of fruits, 79% reduction in no. of flower buds and an increase of 81% in floral abortion under severe drought was obtained (Showemimo & Olarewaju, 2007). 1.3 Rationale of the study Drought stress is a pervasive environmental challenge that significantly threatens capsicum’s productivity. With changing climate patterns leading to increased instances of water scarcity, understanding the responses of crop plants to drought stress becomes imperative for food security. Among crop species, capsicum ( Capsicum annuum L.) are vital both as a nutritious food source and a valuable cash crop. Overall, the research addresses the impending threat of drought stress on capsicum production. The effect of PEG-induced drought stress on capsicum germination and seedling development is of critical importance due to the significance of capsicum in the human diet and the agricultural economy. Understanding how different capsicum varieties respond to drought stress can inform strategies to enhance crop resilience in the face of changing climate conditions. This will help to understand the response of different varieties of capsicum to drought stress and assess drought tolerant varieties. Furthermore, it will enhance productivity of capsicum and mitigate negative impacts of drought stress. Similarly, the variation observed among different capsicum varieties indicates the presence of genetic variability for drought tolerance, suggesting the potential for breeding drought-tolerant capsicum varieties to mitigate the negative impacts of drought stress on crop production. 1.4 Objectives 1.4.1 General objective To identify the drought tolerant varieties of capsicum using PEG induced drought 1.4.2 Specific objectives To assess the impact of drought stress on growth parameters at seedling stage To find correlation between different growth parameters To categorize varieties in different cluster on basis of different growth parameters To study the interaction between PEG levels and varieties on different parameters 2. Literature Review 2.1 Capsicum and drought Capsicum is a valuable commodity because it can be utilized both fresh and dry, making it ideal for a wide variety of culinary applications. Warsi (2013) claims that capsicum is a valuable commodity due to its high vitamin content, antioxidant properties, and versatility in food processing. These numerous advantages bolstered capsicum's already significant value as a strategic item in the national economy. Several problems, such as plant disease disturbances and environmental stress conditions, continue to limit the success of capsicum farming. Yields are low because of the long dry season, which also contributes to dryness on farmland (Yusniwati et al., 2008). The pepper plant, related to chilies, is very drought-and heat-sensitive and sensitive to light (Aminifard et al., 2010; Tulung & Demmassabu, 2011). The rate of growth, maturity, and biomass accumulation of farmed plants can all be altered by drought stress. Drought, flood, cold, chill, frost, elevated CO2 level, heat, and light are abiotic stress factors that severely affect plant growth. The available literature and observations clearly indicated that “climate change” has a negative impact on agriculture production. A modest evaluation suggests that nearly 90% of the global rural land area is affected by abiotic stress factors at some point throughout the growing period (Cramer et al., 2011). In general, plants sense changes in climate and adjust their metabolism and growth within their capacity. Generally, plants tolerant to particular abiotic stresses establish metabolic homeostasis and carry on their growth without suffering stress-induced injuries. On the other hand, sensitive plants are unable to establish metabolic homeostasis which results in a reduction in growth, ultimately leading to death (Jogaiah et al., 2013). Plants respond physiologically to drought stress by capsicum by accumulating proline molecules, which operate as osmoregulatory and osmoprotectant chemicals for cell membranes. Compared to optimal environmental conditions, the proline content of plant leaves increased when plants were exposed to drought (Yusniwati et al., 2008). Due to a loss in chlorophyll and an increase in secondary metabolites, drought stress also disturbs the metabolic activity of plants (carotenoids). Drought can also reduce Nitrate Reductase Activity (NRA) by interfering with the absorption of nitrogen fertilizers. Nitrate reductase enzymes contribute to the assimilation of nitrate, which influences plant development and yield. When plants were subjected to drought conditions, nitrate reductase activity decreased relative to optimal environmental circumstances (Prella et al., 2023). The nitrate reductase activity (NRA) can be employed as a plant selection measure since it correlates positively with production, dry weight,total nitrogen, and plant yield. The application of osmopriming to capsicum seeds to generate drought tolerance has not been performed. Therefore, it has not been as widespread as it has been with other varieties of chilies. The prior studies employed PEG with molecular weights of 6000 and 8000; however, PEG 4000 has not been utilized extensively (Syaiful et al., 2015; Yuanasari et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2015). Furthermore, the application of PEG 6000 on seeds, followed by their cultivation under varying drought stress circumstances, is also new knowledge uncovered by researchers. Therefore, reviewing growth characteristics is necessary to identify the response of capsicum plants to drought stress following osmopriming with PEG 6000, given this context this research was carried out. 2.2 Production status and environment of capsicum in Nepal In Nepal, capsicum cultivation is suitable in both Terai and hilly areas. According to the national figures the capsicum was cultivated in 18,250 ha area producing 287,200 tons. Average productivity was reported to be 15.7 tons/ha which is quite low compared to other countries (MoALD, 2022). This may be because the majority of capsicum production was done at subsistence farming, cultivated without proper care or intercropped with other crops. Among the 15 ecological/development belts, center hill produced the largest volume of capsicum followed by eastern hills and central terai. Capsicum is a warm season crop and is sensitive to frost. Capsicum can be grown optimally in deep, medium textured sandy loam or loamy, fertile and well drained soils. Sites that have good air movement and that are free from problem weeds are preferred. It grows best in temperatures between 20-27 0 C. Fruit setting is poor when average temperatures exceed 30 °C or fall below 10 °C. They prefer well drained soil because they are sensitive to water logging and optimum soil pH should be 6.0 - 7.0. Capsicums are deep rooted crops so the bed should be well prepared and reduce the soil compaction and hard pans. Capsicums are usually transplanted into plastic mulch on raised beds which warm up more quickly in the spring and therefore will enhance earlier growth. The required temperature regime exists in different agro-climatic regions at different times of the year that allows almost year-round production of capsicum by utilizing different geographical regions of the country. 2.3 Drought, the severe abiotic factor impacting capsicum production Drought is described as a period of below-average precipitation, fewer rain events, or higher-than-normal evaporation, resulting in a decrease in agricultural productivity and growth (Rollins et al., 2013). Drought is the leading cause of crop failure as a result of climate change (Ritawati et al., 2021). Drought is presently the most major limiting factor for vegetable producing countries all over the world, and it is becoming more severe as a result of climate change (Kawasaki & Herath, 2011). Capsicum is a highly sensitive crop to water deficit conditions. Drought stress is characterized by a drop in water content, a decrease in leaf water potential and turgor, stomatal closure, and a decrease in cell expansion and growth. The capsicum experiences many morphological changes in response to drought stress at distinct stages of development. Drought stress significantly increased leaf rolling, leaf senescence, stomatal closure, decreased leaf elongation, and lower dry matter production, as well as decreased plant height, number of leaves and fruit production (Kumar et al., 2015). The interplay of dry times and types had a substantial impact on the number of branches, blooming percentage, and fruit weight per plant. Different parameters are complicated and phenologically interacting biochemical and physiological activities are influenced by a lack of water. According to Mushtaq et al. (2008), plants can vary their gene expression and protein accumulation in response to drought stress, affecting the nutritional content of capsicum fruits under drought stress circumstances. Drought stress reduces cell development (Swain et al., 2014), biomass production (Farooq et al., 2010), photosynthesis, and increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) buildup (Sohag et al., 2020), as well as fruit production (Iseki et al., 2014). When water is scarce, there is a reduction in leaf size and pubescence, as well as a change in form and leaf yellowing. Furthermore, during a drought, the formation of new leaves and tillers, as well as stem extension, is delayed. Severe dryness causes leaf drying and, eventually, plant death. Furthermore, dryness causes a decrease in biomass output (Ji et al., 2012). All of these changes in the normal condition of various tissues and organs interfere with photosynthetic rate and other biochemical activities (Kadam et al., 2015; Usman et al., 2013; Blum, 2011). The decrease in photosynthetic rate is caused by stomatal closure, which limits CO2 diffusion, resulting in decreased photosynthetic enzyme activity and loss or diminution of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids (Yang et al., 2014) due to impairment in their synthesis or post-synthesis degradation. Drought stress reduces phosphorylation and hinders ATP generation, which has been identified as one of the key causes limiting photosynthesis (Fahad et al., 2017). Drought significantly reduces production components according to research (Muthurajan et al., 2011; Wei et al., 2017). 2.3.1 Types of drought in capsicum Drought can be primarily classified according to the nature of the drought, such as the severity and timing of the drought in relation to the stage of crop development. Drought stress during the growing season can be classified into 3 types, namely drought stress: early in the growing season (early stress), in the middle of the growing season (mild - intermittent stress), and in the late growing season (late stress). Drought stress detrimentally affects production by deteriorating seed germination to the embryo abortion in reproductive stage (Pandey & Shukla 2015, Kumar et al., 2020, Sohag et al., 2020). Vegetative stage drought is common. This can result in delayed transplanting of older seedlings and in extreme cases. Re-planting is normally practiced in such situations, depending on the soil type and the duration of the cultivar and length of the remaining growing season. Vegetative stage drought may reduce production less than terminal drought because of recovery growth in the later growing season, but it demands extra farm labor and raises concerns about unpredictable rainfall and farm labor availability. Thus, vegetative stage drought, particularly during transplanting time, is often mentioned in farmer interviews as a primary concern. Intermittent drought, which occurs between rainfall occurrences, is the second form of drought. These rainless intervals, however brief, may be repeated. In contrast to terminal drought, intermittent drought is interrupted by a rainfall event, therefore there is no pressing need for water conservation. Terminal dryness occurs well before blooming and primarily develops during the reproductive period. Free water level is strongly connected to fruit output in rain-fed before anthesis till maturity (Ouk et al., 2007), demonstrating the importance of terminal drought. During the reproductive phase, pollen development and pollination are critical elements for fruit production potential; hence, even little alterations caused by drought during pollination can have a significant impact on fruit production (Sikuku et al., 2012; Wei et al., 2017). According to Sikuku et al. (2012), water deprivation produced a considerable drop in physiological indices such as growth, chlorophyll fluorescence, and biochemical parameters such as chlorophyll and protein content both during the vegetative and reproductive stages. Water deficit at the vegetative stage affected plant height, root length, and plant dry weight more than water deficit at the reproductive stage, whereas water deficit at the reproductive stage affected chlorophyll fluorescence, chlorophyll content, and protein content more than water deficit at the vegetative stage. 2.4 Adaptation to drought stress Drought adaptation mechanisms are complicated phenomena that are regulated by several physiological and biochemical systems (Tripathy et al., 2000). Capsicum adaptability to drought can be classified into three categories: 2.4.1 Drought escape Drought escape is defined as an adaptation technique for short cycle cultivars capable of producing fruits prior to the advent of drought (Price et al., 2002; Yue et al., 2006). Such short-duration cultivars or cultivars with the ability to decrease fruit weight may avoid terminal dryness during the reproductive stage. Early flowering genotypes can escape from late season drought, and this is a simple, but often the most effective, way of increasing production under terminal drought. Replacing late maturing cultivars with medium maturing cultivars that have good production potential in rain-fed lowlands, as has occurred in Cambodia, provides a better chance of escaping late season drought (Ouk et al. , 2007). 2.4.2 Drought resistance Drought resistance is obtained by cultivars that can take up water from deeper soils by developing a deep root system (Price et al., 2002; Yue et al., 2006; Gouda et al., 2012). Stress induces and triggers root elongation, branching, and growth directions, as do other environmental variables like nutrition availability and hormone status, notably auxins and ABA. The severity of drought during the seedling and vegetative stages determines the magnitude of the plant's stress avoidance and whether it will develop a deeper and/or more intensive root system with an increased capacity to accumulate dry matter and recover upon re-watering (Bhatnagar- Mathur et al., 2007; Okami et al., 2015; Xangsayasane et al., 2014). 2.4.3. Drought tolerance Drought escape is defined as the capacity of plant tissues to maintain a satisfactory water status in the face of low water availability (Labastida et al., 2023). Leaf rolling is one of genetically defined reactions to water scarcity. Leaf rolling results in less leaf surface exposed to light, less water loss through transpiration, and less radiation damage (Ha, 2014). Osmotic adjustment and stomatal conductance are two examples of physiological processes. Osmotic adjustment is performed by the accumulation of proline, soluble sugars, glycinebetaine, and other solutes in the cytoplasm (Kato et al., 2011; Gowda et al., 2011, Wei et al., 2014). Capsicum plants can tolerate water stress by maintaining stomatal and mesophyll conductance, as well as biomass production and partitioning (Price et al., 2002, Lauteri et al., 2014). Increased antioxidant activity improves drought tolerance by scavenging reactive oxygen species, according to biochemical reactions. The most significant alteration is the buildup of proline, which works as an osmolyte. Proline chelates metals and so functions as an antioxidant and signaling chemical (Fahramand et al. , 2014). Under drought stress, active accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA) has been shown to significantly activate antioxidant enzymes (Li et al., 2014), regulate stomatal movement (Ahmad et al. 2014), and carbon metabolism (Zhou et al., 2014), in addition to inducing the expression of many genes involved in drought response regulation. Thus, drought responsive genes may directly react with enhanced osmotolerance and protection of plants by preventing cell dehydration. These direct genes encode late embryogenesis proteins, osmoprotectants and detoxification enzymes. Drought inducible genes may also indirectly intervene in signal transduction and gene expression regulation (Lata et al., 2015), including transcription factors and protein kinase. 2.5 Screening for drought resistance under moisture stress Maiti et al. (2012) demonstrated great seedling survival, a deep root system, a stay-green character, and a strong recovery after the drought period. In these genotypes, the root system played a larger role in drought tolerance. Bunnag and Pongthai (2013) identified drought resistant, moderately tolerant, and sensitive genotypes during vegetative stage drought using plant characteristics such as plant height and leaf numbers. Water stress due to drought is one of the most significant abiotic factors that limit the seed germination, seeding growth, plants growth and yield (Hartmann et al., 2005, Van den Bergand Zeng, 2006). Sarvestani et al. (2008) discovered that water stress during the vegetative stage dramatically reduced plant height. Water stress at the blooming stage reduced fruit output more than water stress at other times. The decrease in fruit production was mostly caused by a decrease in the percentage of fruit set. Water deficits throughout the vegetative blooming and fruit filling phases lowered mean fruit production by 21, 50, and 21%, respectively, when compared to the control. Under water stress, total biomass, harvest index, plant height, full fruit, and fruit weight were all lowered in all cultivars. Water stress at the vegetative stage substantially lowered total biomass due to a reduction in photosynthetic rate and dry matter buildup. The terminal dry spell induced at the blooming stage was shown to be more severe in terms of reducing crop production than the dry spell applied during the vegetative stage. fruit production was reduced by 44.1, 19.1, and 11.90% compared to no dry spell in the terminal stage dry spell, vegetative dry spell, and dry spell, respectively. According to Zou et al. (2007), genotypes with drought resistance may be identified by assessing production potential, blooming delay, and plant height under well-watered and drought stress test settings. 2.6 Multivariate analysis Multivariate analysis, which evaluates numerous metrics on each individual under investigation at the same time, gives an appropriate evaluation of the degree of variation among genotypes and is often used in genetic diversity research regardless of the dataset (morphological, biochemical, or molecular marker data). Cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) are both multivariate methods used to investigate variation (Maji & Shaibu, 2012; Tiwari et al., 2020). Several researchers used multivariate analysis to efficiently exploit agro-morphological traits to define and measure variation in a variety of rice (Nachimuthu et al., 2014; Ravikumar et al., 2015). 2.6.1 Cluster analysis Cluster analysis using Euclidean distance is a useful statistical method for assessing the genetic diversity of germplasm collections in terms of attributes considered collectively. Cluster analysis refers to a series of multivariate approaches whose major goal is to group persons or things based on the traits they possess, such that individuals with comparable descriptions are mathematically grouped into the same cluster. Individual clusters should thus have high internal (within cluster) homogeneity and high exterior (between cluster) heterogeneity. Thus, if the categorization is effective, people inside a cluster will be closer when plotted geometrically, whereas individuals from other clusters would be further apart (Hair et al., 1998). 3. Materials and Methods 3.1 Experiment site The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG) induced drought on the seedling performance of different capsicum varieties at Prakriti Organic Krishi Farm, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu in 2023. Study area lies in the coordinates of 27.765438° N and longitude of 85.365296° E. It is at an elevation of about 1371 meters from mean sea level. 3.2 Climate of the site In general, the research site has a humid subtropical climate. The average temperature in-summer is 25° to 35° C and in winter around -2 to 15° C. Summers were humid and mild. Most of the precipitation occurs during monsoon season (July- September). 3.3 Experimental design and treatments The experiment was laid out in a two factorial completely randomized design (CRD) and replicated thrice. Factor A has four capsicum varieties and factor B as three different concentrations of PEG; distilled water was used as a control (0 MPa) and osmotic potentials -0.18 and -0.36 MPa were created by adding Polyethylene Glycol 6000 (PEG-6000) @ 30 and 60 per 100 ml distilled water. capsicum ( Capsicum annuum L) seeds of Boxer, California Wonder, Ganga and Red variety varieties were obtained from Horticultural Development Center Khumaltar and agrovets. Two factorial Factor A (Varieties): V1 Boxer; V2 California Wonder; V3 Ganga ; V4 Red Variety Factor B (PEG concentration): P0 0%(0 MPa); P1 3%(-0.18 MPa); P3 6% (-0.36 MPa) Table 1: Treatment combination details Treatments Details Treatments Details T1 V1P1 T7 V3P2 T2 V2P1 T8 V4P2 T3 V3P1 T9 V1P3 T4 V4P1 T10 V2P3 T5 V1P2 T11 V3P3 T6 V2P2 T12 V4P3 3.4 Layout of the experiment 3.5 Preparation of PEG solution Different concentrations (0%, 3% and 6%) of Polyethylene Glycol were prepared using distilled water only , PEG-6000 30g and 60g per 1000 ml distilled water respectively. PEG powder, distilled water, beaker, stirring rod or magnetic stirrer, weighing scale were required. The percentage w\v (percentage weight by volume) represents the amount of solute in grams present in 100ml of solution. PEG 6000 concentration was optimized through a series of experiments that included a range from 2% to 12%, and 4% was observed to be optimum for screening of capsicum germplasm (George et al., 2013). Similar concentration has been used by (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007). The germplasm was investigated against induced water stress using PEG-6000 at 4%. The required amount of PEG powder 30 g and 60 g were weighed using a weighing scale and added gradually to the distilled water. The mixture was stirred using a stirring rod or set up a magnetic stirrer to ensure the PEG powder dissolved completely and continued stirring until the solution appeared clear and homogenous. Then the distilled water, 3% and 6% PEG solution were ready for application. 3.6 Method of application The different capsicum varieties were primed in distilled water (control), 3% and 6% prepared PEG solutions for 24 hours. The treated seeds were sown in coco-peat trays. Then, the distilled water and the prepared solutions were applied to the sowed seeds in a two day interval. 3.7 Observations The parameters used during data recording were as follows: Germination percentage (%), germination speed, days to first germination, plant height, leaf number, shoot length, root length, canopy spread length wise, canopy spread breadthwise, root spread lengthwise, root spread breadthwise, root weight, shoot weight, total biomass, root shoot ratio, Vigor Index (VI), and Vigor Test Index (VTI). Data from five sample plants was used to calculate the average of the observed parameters. 3.7.1 Germination percentage (%) Germination percentage is a measure of the percentage of seeds that successfully germinate under specific conditions. It indicates the viability and potential for seed germination. Germination percentage was calculated on the basis of the number of normal seedlings (Anonymous, 1993). Germination percentage = (Number of Germinated Seeds / Total Number of Seeds) x 100 3.7.2 Germination speed Germination speed is a measure of the number of seeds that successfully germinate after a number of days. It is an important factor to consider when assessing seed quality and evaluating the performance of different plant varieties. It indicates the viability and potential for seed germination. It was calculated using formula: Speed of germination= N 1 /d 1 +N 2 /d 2 +N 3 /d 3 +---------- N n /d n Where, N = number of germinated seeds, d= number of days. 3.7.3 Days to first germination (days) The days to first germination are crucial for the development of a seed into a young plant. During this period, the seed undergoes various physiological and biochemical changes that lead to the emergence of the embryonic plant from the seed coat. It was recorded on the basis of the days on which the first germination was seen. It is important to note that the duration of the days to first germination can vary depending on the plant species, environmental conditions, and seed characteristics. 3.7.4 Plant height (cm) Plant height refers to the vertical measurement of a plant from the base of the stem to the topmost point, which may include leaves, flowers, or fruit. It is an important parameter used to evaluate the growth and development of plants. Plant height was measured using a measuring scale. 3.7.5 Leaf number Leaf number is a parameter that refers to the count of leaves on a plant. It is a useful metric for assessing plant growth, development, and physiological processes. 3.7.6 Shoot length (cm) Shoot length is a parameter that refers to the measurement of the aboveground portion of a plant, typically from the soil level to the tip of the shoot or the highest point of the plant. It plays a significant role in assessing plant growth, development, and overall performance. It was also measured using a measuring scale. 3.7.7 Root length (cm) Root length is a parameter that refers to the measurement of the belowground portion of a plant's root system. Root length was measured using a measuring scale from the crown region to the tip of the tap root. A well-developed root system with adequate root length enables plants to access essential resources for growth and development (Fageria & Moreira, 2011). 3.7.8 Canopy spread (cm) Canopy spread measures the horizontal extent of a plant's canopy. It was measured perpendicular to the main axis. 3.7.9 Root spread (cm) Root spread lengthwise is the lateral extension of a plant's root system, representing its width as it grows. It was measured using a measuring scale. Iit provides valuable information about the spatial distribution and exploration of the root system. 3.7.10 Root weight (g) Root weight is the mass of the below-ground portion of a plant, specifically the root system. To measure root weight, plants were uprooted, shoots removed, and excess soil removed. Careful removal of visible soil particles was done to avoid damaging roots. Data from five sample plants was analyzed, providing insights into below-ground biomass, root growth, and root system development. Root weight can be used to compare treatments, assess environmental factors on root growth, study root-to-shoot ratio, and evaluate nutrient uptake and resource allocation efficiency. Root weight decreased under abiotic stress (Zaidi et al ., 2003). 3.7.11 Shoot weight (g) Shoot weight is the mass of the above-ground portion of a plant, including stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, or other aerial structures. It was measured by uprooting the plant, removing the root and soil, and using precise balance. Shoot weight provides valuable information about plant growth, productivity, and biomass allocation patterns. Shoot weight decreases under abiotic stress (Zaidi et al., 2003). 3.7.12 Total biomass (g): Total biomass refers to the combined weight or mass of all living organic matter within a specific area or system. We estimated total biomass by uprooting and weighing. Total collapse of tissue and reduced shoot biomass (AbuQamar et al., 2009). Abiotic stress significantly lower biomass than the population (Kissoudis et al., 2015). 3.7.13 Root Shoot ratio (RS ratio): The Root Shoot Ratio, also known as the root-to-shoot ratio, is a measure used to quantify the allocation of biomass between the root system and the shoot (above-ground) system of a plant. The root and shoot were cured and then oven dried at 70°C for two days. The oven dried weight was recorded for root and shoot differently and the ratio was calculated using the formula: Root Shoot Ratio = Root Biomass/ Shoot Biomass (Raji & Thangavelu, 2021) Root /shoot ratio increased under water stress (Özenç, 2008). Generally, a higher Root Shoot Ratio indicates a relatively larger investment of resources in the root system, which is often associated with plants adapted to resource-limited conditions, such as arid environments. Conversely, a lower root shoot ratio suggests a relatively larger investment in the shoot system, which is commonly observed in fast-growing, competitive plants with ample resources. 3.7.14 Vigor Test Index (VTI) The Vigor Test Index (VTI) is a tool used to evaluate the vigor or physiological quality of seeds. It measures a seed's ability to germinate, establish, and produce a healthy seedling. The VTI is calculated using various seed vigor tests, which evaluate various aspects of seed quality and performance under specific conditions. Common tests include germination, accelerated aging, cold, electrical conductivity, seedling, and Vigor Index. This study used formulas to calculate the VTI. Vigor Test Index = (average of root length and shoot length)*G% A higher Vigor Test Index value indicates better seed quality and vigor (Sheidaei et al., 2014). The index serves as a useful tool for seed producers, seed companies, and researchers in evaluating seed quality, predicting seedling performance, and making informed decisions regarding seed selection, storage, and planting. 3.8 Data analysis Data entry and quantitative analysis were carried out using Microsoft office Excel 2016. For the quantitative traits the Analysis of Variance was performed using the F test and in order to group the accessions, the DMRT test was used in R studio 4.1.1. The treatment means were compared by the Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level (Gomez & Gomez, 1984). Statistical significance was set at 5 % (p < 0.05). Calculation of means was done using R (4.1.1) for quantitative data. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated and present through heat map using Metan package in R. For cluster analysis, the Euclidean distance was obtained and clustering was performed using cluster tree method. Cluster tree was obtained using the cluster package. The data was submitted to Average Linkage cluster analysis based on mean Euclidean distances and similarity index (Sneath & Sokal, 1973). The ANOVA table for the experiment with twelve treatments and three replications was as follows: Table 3: ANOVA table design for research Source of variation D.f. S.S. M.S. F value F pr. Varieties G-1 SS1 MS 1 MS 1 /MS 3 PEG concn P-1 SS2 MS 2 MS 2 /MS 3 Interaction Residuals SS3 MS3 Total 4. Results And Discussion The current experiment was designed to evaluate four capsicum varieties using different traits in order to reveal their reaction to moisture stress, which was controlled by PEG 6000. The current study's experimental findings are presented under the following headings, and the available information on many parts of the inquiry has been discussed. The results obtained from the experiments undertaken to assess the drought tolerant varieties of capsicum. The results were assessed and discussed with supporting evidence from previous research. The analysis of variance for the traits of four varieties studied under different concentrations of PEG 6000 stimulated drought and non-stressed control indicated presence of wide variability between varieties. Mean performance of seedling traits under various PEG concentrations and non stressed control are shown in Appendix. 4.1 Germination percentage (%) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration germination percentage. Boxer and California Wonder Ganga showed statistically similar germination percentages at control, 3% and 6% concentration. Red variety showed minimum germination percentage 46.67% at control, 46.67% at 3% (-0.18 MPa ) and 26.66 at 6% (-0.36 MPa). Boxer germplasm showed 100% germination even at a higher dose of 3% PEG. Similar response was found Basha et al., (2015) which showed AR germplasm showed similar germination even at the higher dose of PEG. Among investigated germplasm Ganga (73.33%) and Red variety (26.66%) showed germination percentage reduction with increasing PEG concentration than the other varieties, similar response was found Basha et al. (2015) which showed among investigated germplasm, the AR genotype showed low germination percentage reduction with increasing PEG concentration than the other genotypes AV, YVU-1 and YVU-2. The PEG inhibited the germination of the susceptible lines and caused them a record low germination percentage. PEG 6000 reduces maximum germination by 10% to 20%. (Yari et al., 2012). PEG 6000 at 10% and 15% reduces germination percentage (Nezhad et al., 2013). Red Variety showed the lowest germination percentages at increasing PEG concentration which showed its susceptibility to drought which is supported by study of Dodd and Donavon (1999) stated that PEG induced reduction in germination percentage was because of reduction in the water potential gradient between seeds and their surroundings (George et al., 2013). The higher germination percentages of the tolerant germplasm may be due to their capability to absorb water even under PEG induced water stress. 4.2 Germination speed Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on germination speed. Boxer and California Wonder showed statistically similar germination speed at control, 3% and 6% concentration which showed they are tolerant to higher water stress condition, similar result was found by Soni et al. (2011) reported that tolerant genotypes showed similar germination speed under stressed conditions and were found to be more tolerant at seedling stage. Red variety showed minimum germination speed 2.4 at control, which decreased statistically significantly at 3% to 2.013 which is statistically similar at 6% (1.947). Red variety showed drastic reduction as it was susceptible to drought conditions which is supported by study of Dodd and Donavon (1999) stated that PEG induced reduction in germination speed was because of reduction in the water potential gradient between seeds and their surroundings (George et al., 2013). The PEG inhibited the germination speed of the susceptible lines and caused them a record low germination speed. 4.3 Days to first germination (days) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on days to first germination. Boxer showed a statistically similar day to first germination at control, 3% and 6% concentration. California Wonder took a minimum 10 days to first germinate at control which statistically increased to 18.67 days at 3% which is statistically similar with 6% (13.33 days). Ganga took 12 days to first germinate at control which statistically increased to 20.33 days at 3% which is statistically similar to 6% (18.67days). Red variety took a maximum 14.667 days to first germinate at control, which statistically increased to 23.667 days at 3% which was statistically similar to 6% (27 days). Germination was delayed as the PEG concentration increased and different concentrations of PEG had a significant effect on the time of germination of different capsicum varieties. The days to first germination of all varieties increased with increasing peg concentration, similar response was found by Basha et al. (2015) which showed AR germplasm showed an increase in day to first germination by one fourth at the higher dose of 16% PEG. The PEG inhibited the days to first germination of the susceptible lines and caused it to take more days to germinate. Similar results increased in days to first germination with the increase of PEG were noted in chick peas also (Kaur et al., 1998). The increasing time was quite higher for the Red variety than others which showed its susceptibility to drought. PEG 6000 increases the days to seed garmination 10% to 20% (Yari et al., 2012). PEG 6000 at 10% and 15% increased days of germination (Nezhad et al., 2013). The shorter time for seed germination of the tolerant germplasm may be due to their capability to absorb water even under PEG induced water stress. Hegarty (1977) and Turk et al., (2004) reported that water stress at germination stage delayed or reduced or hinder germination completely, leading for more time to germinate. 4.4 Plant height (cm) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on plant height. Boxer showed maximum plant height 5.53cm which was statistically similar to all other varieties at control. Then plant height of all varieties decreased at 3% which then remained statistically similar at 6%. Declined water contents tend to reduce leaf area in tomato genotypes (Jurekova et al., 2011) which in turn results in reduced shoot lengths (Unyayar et al. , 2005). Declined plant height was reported by Abdel-Raheem et al. (2007) in tomatoes under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG. Remarkable decrease in plant height of tomato has also been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007). 4.5 Leaf number The analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant variation in leaf numbers among different capsicum varieties and different PEG induced drought. Marked variation was observed for leaf numbers ranging from 2.43 to 4.17 with an average of 3.56 ± 0.334. Maximum leaf numbers were displayed by California Wonder (4.17) which was statistically similar with Ganga (3.87), and Boxer (3.76). Leaf number was found minimum 3.28 in 6% PEG and maximum 4.32 in control condition (0%). Minimum leaf numbers were observed in Red Variety (2.43). Interaction was non-significant between varieties and PEG concentration for leaf number. Declined leaf number was reported by Abdel-Raheem et al. (2007) under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG. Remarkable decrease in leaf number has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007). A higher leaf number typically indicates a larger photosynthetic surface area and a potentially higher assimilate production, leading to increased plant biomass and productivity. Table 4: Leaf number of different varieties under different PEG induced drought condition Varieties Leaf Number Boxer 3.76 a California Wonder 4.17 a Ganga 3.87 a Red Variety 2.43 b LSD(0.05) 1.13 SEm (+-) 0.334 F test 4.01** CV, % 32.20 Grand Mean 3.56 PEG Concentration 0% 4.32 a 3% 3.07 b 6% 3.28 b LSD(0.05) 0.98 SEm (+-) 0.334 F test 4.012** CV,% 32.20 Grand Mean 3.56 Interaction F test 0.46 ns 4.6 Root length (cm) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on root length. Boxer, California Wonder and Ganga showed statistically similar root length at control, 3% and 6% concentration which were maximum. Red variety showed minimum root length 2.87 cm at control, which was statistically similar at 3% to 3.05 cm which was decreased statistically to 2.12 cm at 6%. Those varieties maintain the root length even at a higher water stress condition which was in line with Kulkarni and Deshpande, (2007) reported that early and rapid elongation of roots is a key trait of drought tolerance. It may be because they possess drought tolerant genes. This result was in contrast to the result of Ghafoor (2013); strong negative correlation coefficient was noted between root length and PEG concentration with more than -0.81 correlation coefficient values. However, Red Variety showed a drastic decrease in root length which is similar to the result of Ghafoor (2013); strong negative correlation coefficient was noted between root length and PEG concentration with more than -0.81 correlation coefficient values. Red Variety showed susceptibility to drought stress as they showed decrease in root length compared to other varieties. Root length plays a vital role in plant growth, nutrient acquisition, stability, and adaptation to environmental conditions. It influences the plant's ability to access water and nutrients, interact with soil microorganisms, and withstand stresses. Root length is an important adaptive trait in response to various environmental stresses. In challenging soil conditions, such as low nutrient availability or drought, plants with longer roots can explore a larger soil volume to find and extract limited resources (Amtmann et al., 2022). Remarkable decrease in root length has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations was reported by Jajarmi et al. (2009) and similar results like reduction in root length with increasing osmotic stress was identified in pea plants (Whalley et al., 1998). Relative increase in root length in 80% genotypes was observed under drought stress as compared to control because of their capacity to survive and those performing better under the stress are considered as drought tolerant (Oliveira et al., 2011). Hence, genotypes with the ability of rapid root elongation under stress conditions are likely to be drought stress tolerant, and they retain continuous root elongation process by extracting water under stressed conditions (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007). 4.7 Shoot length (cm) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration for shoot length. Boxer, California Wonder and Ganga showed statistically similar shoot length at control, 3% and 6% concentration which were maximum. Red variety showed minimum shoot length 2.3 cm at control, which decreased statistically to 1.62 cm at 3% which was statistically similar at 6% to 1.22 cm. A strong negative correlation between shoot length and PEG concentration has been observed (Basha et al., 2015). Red variety showed a common trend i.e. reduction rate in shoot length with increasing concentration of PEG (Basha et al., 2015). The decline in shoot length traits in response to induced osmotic stress is a commonly observed phenomenon which depends on the tolerance capacity of the genotypes (Aazami et al., 2010). Decreasing in growth rate with increasing osmotic stress was reported in several studies (Waseem et al., 2006; Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007; Abdel- Raheem et al., 2007; Aazami et al., 2010; Hamayun et al. , 2010). Comprehensive investigations such as using various plant growth regulators (Hussain et al., 2010), proline accumulation under stress (Ali et al., 2011), antioxidants assays etc. on these varieties could give more important information for selecting appropriate germplasm. Declined water contents tend to reduce shoot length (Jurekova et al., 2011). Relative increase in shoot length of 50% genotypes was observed under drought stress as compared to control because of their capacity to survive and those performing better under the stress are considered as drought tolerant (Oliveira et al. , 2011). 4.8 Canopy spread (cm) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration for canopy spread lengthwise. Canopy spread lengthwise of Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga was statistically similar at control decreased with increasing PEG concentration to 3 and 6%. Red variety showed minimum Canopy spread lengthwise 3.15 cm at control, which was decreased to 1.51 cm at 3% and then to 0.89 cm at 6%. Decline in canopy spread lengthwise was reported by Abdel-Raheem et al. (2007) under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG. Remarkable decrease in canopy spread lengthwise was observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007). It provides information about the lateral growth and coverage of the plant. Overall, canopy spread breadthwise is an important parameter for assessing the lateral growth, resource utilization, microclimate modification, and production potential of plants. Understanding and managing the breadthwise extent of the canopy can optimize light interception, and resource efficiency. Declined water contents tend to reduce canopy spread varieties (Jurekova et al., 2011) which in turn results in reduced shoot lengths (Unyayar et al., 2005). Ibrahim (1990) reported similar findings for chickpea where a greater reduction was seen in vegetative parts with decreased branch production. 4.9 Root spread (cm) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration for root spread. The maximum root spread (6.28 cm) was statistically similar with California Wonder and Ganga at all PEG concerntrations. Red variety showed statistically similar root spread at control and 3% which was statistically decreased to 0.87 cm at 6%. Reduced root spread under osmotic stress conditions have been reported in safflower (Jajarmi, 2009) and pea (Whalley et al., 1998). It is a well known fact that root architecture influences the yield and other agronomic traits, particularly under stress conditions (Ludlow & Muchow, 1990; Dorlodot et al., 2007). It's important to note that root spread breadthwise can vary depending on factors such as plant species, growth conditions, and soil characteristics. Additionally, the lateral extent of the roots can be influenced by factors like root architecture, root density, and the presence of physical barriers. It provides insights into the spatial distribution of roots, their foraging capability, and their ability to access resources in the soil. 4.10 Root weight (g) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on root weight. Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga showed statistically similar root weight at 0%, 3% and 6%. whereas Red Variety showed the minimum (0.015g) root weight which was statistically similar at 3% but decreased at 6% to 0.07 g. Reduction in root weight under osmotic stress conditions have been reported in safflower (Jajarmi, 2009) and pea (Whalley et al., 1998). It is a well known fact that root architecture influences the yield and other agronomic traits, particularly under stress conditions (Ludlow & Muchow, 1990; Dorlodot et al., 2007). 4.11 Shoot weight (g) The interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on shoot weight. Boxer showed a maximum shoot weight of 0.087, which was statistically similar to California Wonder, and Ganga at control. It was statistically decreased at 3% to 0.029, which was statistically similar to 6% (0.039). Similarly, California Wonder also showed a reduction in shoot weight at 3% with an increase in PEG concentration which was statistically similar at 6%. Ganga showed statistically similar shoot weight at control and 3% but declined at 6%. The Red variety showed a drastic decrease in shoot weight on higher concentrations at 3 and 6% PEG concentration. Declined shoot growth was reported by Abdel-Raheem et al. (2007) in capsicum under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG which directly reduced the shoot weight. Remarkable decrease in shoot weight has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007) and Leskovar & Piccinni (2005). Poorter and Nagel (2000) indicated water and nutrient limitations led to carbon translocation from leaves to roots and reduced shoot weight. Declined water contents tend to reduce shoot length in genotypes (Jurekova et al., 2011) which in turn results in reduced shoot weight (Unyayar et al., 2005). 4.12 Total biomass (g) The interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on total biomass. Boxer showed a maximum total biomass of 0123, which was statistically similar to at 3% and it was similar at 6% too.. California Wonder also showed a reduction in total biomass at 3%, which was statistically similar at 6%. Ganga showed statistically similar total biomass at control and 3% but declined at 6%. The Red variety showed a continuous significant and drastic reduction in total biomass with increasing PEG concentrations to 3% and 6%. Seedling biomass affected by PEG solution in capsicum has also been recorded by Nahar & Gretzmacher (2002). A remarkable decrease in the total biomass of capsicum has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni & Deshpande, 2007) and (Leskovar & Piccinni, 2005). Declined water contents tend to reduce shoot length (Jurekova et al., 2011) which in turn results in reduced total biomass (Unyayar et al., 2005). Shoot weight reduced under abiotic stress reduced the total biomass (Zaidi et al., 2003). The varieties which showed positive behavior under stressed conditions as compared to control may carry a kind of tolerance mechanism, which makes plants capable of retaining a good turgor pressure and absolute water level under stressed conditions (Saxena & Toole, 2002). 4.13 Root Shoot ratio (RS ratio) The interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on root shoot ratio. Boxer, California Wonder and Ganga showed statistically similar RS ratios at control which statistically increased at 3% and remained the same at 6% concentration. Red variety showed minimum RS ratios 1.28 at control, which decreased statistically to 0.833 at 3% which was statistically similar at 6% to 1.1772. Generally, a higher Root Shoot ratio indicates a relatively larger investment of resources in the root system, which is often associated with plants adapted to resource-limited conditions, such as arid environments (Hao et al., 2010). Conversely, a lower Root Shoot ratio suggests a relatively larger investment in the shoot system, which is commonly observed in fast-growing, competitive plants with ample resources (Grime, 2006). Root traits associated with maintaining plant productivity under drought include small fine root diameters, long specific root length, and considerable root length density, especially at depths in soil with available water (Comas et al., 2013). 4.14 Vigor Test Index (VTI) Interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on vigor test index. The vigor test index of Boxer was maximum which was statistically similar with all the concentrations. California Wonder and Ganga at control and 3% was statistically similar, which was statistically similar at 6%. The Red variety showed a continuous drastic reduction in vigor test index with increasing PEG concentrations 3% and 6%. A higher vigor test index value indicates better seed quality and vigor (Sheidaei et al., 2014). The index serves as a useful tool for seed producers, seed companies, and researchers in evaluating seed quality, predicting seedling performance, and making informed decisions regarding seed selection, storage, and planting. Detailed studies focusing on the level of proline accumulation under stress (Ali et al., 2011) or the application of plant growth regulators (Hussain et al., 2010) in these genotypes could render further useful information for selecting suitable genotypes. 4.15 Correlation Correlation coefficient of various morphological traits was determined and is presented on Figure 16. Among observed parameters, plant height, total biomass, canopy spread, vigor test index, leaf number, germination percentage, germination speed, root spread and root length showed positive correlation with each other. Above parameters showed negative correlation with day to first germination. A strong negative correlation between shoot length and PEG concentration has been observed (Basha et al., 2015). The germplasm which has better growth under a stressed environment may have drought tolerance mechanisms in it and these plants may have capability of holding a homeostasis under stressed conditions (Saxena & Toole, 2002). Siddique et al. (2014) explained that plants with better early vigor can increase the crop water use efficiency. Several reports indicated that better growth under stress conditions as a trait to select germplasm to improve the yield (Richards, 2000). 4.16 Multivariate analysis 4.16.1 Clustering The four capsicum varieties were grouped into two clusters based on the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA). The presence of significant differences among varieties for different characters justified further calculation of Euclidean generalized distance (D 2 ) (Sharma, 1998). D 2 was used to measure the genetic divergence among the landraces and their grouping was done by ward D 2 method. In cluster I, one variety Red Variety was grouped as shown in figure 17, which represents 20 % of the total varieties with drought susceptible characters. Cluster II was the included three varieties Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga representing 80 % of the total varieties with higher drought resistant characters. Selection of genotypes for hybridization to generate diverse new gene combinations should be based on genetic diversity rather than geographic diversity (Meena et al., 2015). In general, less intra-cluster distance than inter cluster distance suggested homogeneous and heterogeneous nature of the genotypes within and between the clusters, respectively (Nalla et al., 2014). If the categorization is effective, people inside a cluster will be closer when plotted geometrically, whereas individuals from other clusters would be further apart (Hair et al., 1998). 4.16.1.1 Estimation of intra and inter cluster square distances (D 2 ) The estimation of intra and inter cluster square distances (D 2 ) distance between clusters was determined using the Euclidean distance, and are presented in Table 5. The lowest varietal Euclidean distance (D 2 =72.398) was exhibited by Boxer with California Wonder followed by Ganga (D 2 =108.948) and highest (D 2 =607.908) with Red Variety. The varietal Euclidean distance (D 2 =36.861) was exhibited by Ganga as the lowest one followed by Boxer (72.398) and Red Variety (535.766). Similarly, for Ganga the minimum varietal Euclidean distance (D 2 =36.861) was exhibited with California Wonder followed by Boxer (108.948) and then by Red Variety (499.042). Again, the Red variety exhibited the minimum Euclidean distance with Ganga (D 2 =499.042) , then greater with California Wonder (535.7658) and then maximum with Boxer (607.908). Table 5: Euclidean Similarity Indices Boxer California Wonder Ganga Red Variety Boxer 0 72.3978 108.94824 607.90786 California Wonder 72.3978 0 36.860994 535.7658 Ganga 108.94824 36.860994 0 499.04151 Red Variety 607.90786 535.7658 499.04151 0 5. Conclusion Drought stress is a significant environmental factor affecting plant growth and crop productivity, and understanding its impact on tomato production is crucial for development of drought-tolerant varieties. Boxer and California Wonder showed similar responses in most of the parameters so they can be considered as highly drought tolerant whereas Ganga showed significantly reduced performances in few parameters at seedling stage with increase in PEG concentration and fall under less tolerant variety. Unlike these varieties, Red Variety showed drastic reduction in all the parameters and they can be considered as drought susceptible. Results showed these varieties were more tolerant even up to higher drought conditions up to -0.36 MPa, but the red variety was susceptible even to lower drought conditions (-0.18 MPa). The four capsicum varieties were grouped into two clusters, with the Red variety genotype in one and Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga under another. The promising varieties Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga were identified as drought tolerant and can be utilized in breeding programs aimed at developing drought tolerant capsicum varieties or can be recommended in areas with lower irrigation facilities. Based on the results, it is recommended to explore the genetic basis of drought tolerance in capsicum varieties. This can be achieved through genetic studies, such as quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and genomic selection, to identify the key genes and markers associated with drought tolerance in these tolerant varieties Boxer, Ganga, and California Wonder. Furthermore, breeding programs should be initiated to develop new capsicum varieties with enhanced drought tolerance, incorporating the identified drought-tolerant genetic traits and genes. Abbreviations % : Percentage °C AFU : Degree Celsius : Agriculture and Forestry University ANOVA cm : Analysis of Variance : Centimeter CRD : Completely Randomized Design CV : Coefficient of Variance DMRT : Duncan’s Multiple Range Test et al. : et alii, and others FAO : Food and Agricultural Organization g G% : Gram :Germination percentage ha : Hectare i.e. : That is LSD m : Least Significant Difference : Meter MPa : Megapascal ns on par : Non-Significant : at the same level RH SEm SS STAT : Relative Humidity : Standard Error of Mean : Sum of square : Statistics t ha -1 : Ton Per Hectare VI VTI : Vigor Index : Vigor Test Index Wt. : Weight Declarations ACKNOWLEDGEMENT All praises are due to the God who enabled the author to pursue his higher education and complete the present research work and research report for the degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Agriculture. The author feels proud to express her deep sense of gratitude, profound respect, sincere appreciation and heartfelt indebtedness to her honorable research supervisor, Assistant Prof. Dr Suman Karki, CNRM, Puranchaur, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan for his continuous encouragement and inspiration, scholastic and systematic supervision, invaluable advice, constructive criticism and generous help during the entire period of research work and preparation of the research report. I am also thankful to my members of advisory Committee Narayan Kumar Shrestha, Chief, AKC , Lalitpur, Asha Sharma, Senior Agriculture Officer, Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP), Khumaltar, Lalitpur. Similarly, I want to show my heartfelt gratitude to the Prakriti Organic Krishi Farm, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu who provided a suitable environment for the research. It is a great opportunity for the author to express his profound respect and immense indebtedness to my LEE mate Pankaj Kumar Yadav for his generous help in the completion of the research work. The author would like to extend his heartfelt appreciation to all other professors of Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal valuable teaching and their constructive suggestions and cooperation feelings during the entire period of the research. It is worthy to express a few words of gratitude to Aastha Dahal as site advisor, batch mates and juniors for their heartfelt concern and intimate accompaniment throughout the stay in AFU. The author joyously acknowledges. Lastly, my family deserves a special recognition whose love, endless support, affection, co-operation and encouragement has helped me come this far in my academic life. 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Bhujel","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9894-9809","institution":"Agriculture and Forestry University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Prabina","middleName":"","lastName":"Bhujel","suffix":""},{"id":276013235,"identity":"ef20b332-bb84-432f-aeb3-38871ec36f1e","order_by":1,"name":"Pankaj Kumar Yadav","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4725-5153","institution":"Agriculture and Forestry 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05:02:51","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4007557/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4007557/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":51935129,"identity":"1f98cbdd-917e-4e60-a8e3-e922b040d32a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:18","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":69176,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEffect of drought in plants (modified from Asati, 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07:00:22","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"Figure 9","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":17706,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eBar graph showing interaction between varieties and PEG concentrations on canopy spread\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image8.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/0d341f8cc06eaacecd6c6b18.png"},{"id":51935116,"identity":"205733db-34b8-43c6-bdb4-fefc854a5860","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:17","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"Figure 10","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":15986,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eBar graph showing interaction between varieties and PEG concentrations on root 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varieties and PEG concentrations on shoot weight\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image11.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/c1b34e343d4cc91f53c24882.png"},{"id":51935130,"identity":"dfbe12b2-ddf8-474b-ab35-6fed37d28fa2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:18","extension":"png","order_by":13,"title":"Figure 13","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":20996,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eBar graph showing interaction between varieties and PEG concentrations on total biomass\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image12.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/0f690284711e05e68ebdeb2d.png"},{"id":51935157,"identity":"08b6c8e3-6922-4879-a99b-f4d342d66d33","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:20","extension":"png","order_by":14,"title":"Figure 14","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":19141,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eBar graph showing interaction between varieties and PEG concentrations on root shoot ratio\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image13.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/90fe97bc71a27151807295a3.png"},{"id":51935159,"identity":"cb51637c-8192-402e-8dfe-e7c4a07cd5f1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:22","extension":"png","order_by":15,"title":"Figure 15","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":21730,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eBar graph showing interaction between varieties and PEG concentration on Vigor Test Index\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image14.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/e08d02d65c46105cba5258fc.png"},{"id":51935236,"identity":"da21f48d-4a1a-4865-8e62-73322410cbd0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:32","extension":"png","order_by":16,"title":"Figure 16","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":28781,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eHeat map showing Pearson correlation (r) of different observations\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNegative correlations are in red, positive correlations are in blue. R value is marked* = Significant at 5%, ** = Significant at 1% probability level and *** =Significant at 0.1% probability.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image15.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/38e773f01a0e96b0c0c8bdf1.png"},{"id":51935237,"identity":"26a9ea32-4845-4e19-9711-19ddaccdacf0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:32","extension":"png","order_by":17,"title":"Figure 17","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":14853,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCluster tree diagram based on fourteen traits for four different capsicum varieties\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"image16.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/49fc9a67e163160bd150a702.png"},{"id":51935131,"identity":"ddba79ca-56e7-4c7d-bb79-2b619cae0d31","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:19","extension":"png","order_by":18,"title":"Figure 18","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":653716,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ePicture showing the effects of different concentration of PEG induced drought stress on seedling development of different capsicum varieties\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"18.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/cbf3217cca24edec6475d7c6.png"},{"id":51935501,"identity":"93507717-f3b2-4452-b482-a3ae76434068","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:08:15","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2601564,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/36bd9f5a-d7df-4ae0-b603-f4292377e615.pdf"},{"id":51935163,"identity":"5e7741af-1d28-409f-afeb-e8102394b2f7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-03-04 07:00:24","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":23828,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"APPENDICES.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4007557/v1/78cefa5146b741d997284994.docx"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEffect of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress on germination and seedling development of capsicum varieties\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.1 Background\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCapsicum \u0026nbsp;(\u003cem\u003eCapsicum annuum\u003c/em\u003e L.) commonly known as sweet pepper or bell pepper is \u0026nbsp;a \u0026nbsp; valuable commodity of the Solanaceae family. It can \u0026nbsp; be \u0026nbsp;utilized \u0026nbsp;both fresh and dry, making it ideal for a wide variety of culinary applications. Warsi \u0026nbsp; (2013) \u0026nbsp;claims \u0026nbsp;that \u0026nbsp; capsicum is a valuable \u0026nbsp; commodity \u0026nbsp;due \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp; their \u0026nbsp;high \u0026nbsp;vitamin \u0026nbsp; content, antioxidant \u0026nbsp; properties, \u0026nbsp;and \u0026nbsp;versatility \u0026nbsp; in \u0026nbsp;food \u0026nbsp;processing. These numerous advantages bolstered capsicum\u0026apos;s already significant \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;value \u0026nbsp; as \u0026nbsp; a \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;strategic \u0026nbsp; item \u0026nbsp; in the \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;national economy. Capsicum has enormous potential for growth in Nepal. However, there \u0026nbsp;is \u0026nbsp;now \u0026nbsp; a \u0026nbsp;gap \u0026nbsp;between \u0026nbsp; supply \u0026nbsp;and demand, \u0026nbsp;despite \u0026nbsp; its \u0026nbsp;widespread \u0026nbsp;cultivation \u0026nbsp; in \u0026nbsp;subtropical and tropical regions (Arifianto \u0026amp; Kartika, 2018). Several \u0026nbsp;problems, \u0026nbsp; such \u0026nbsp;as plant \u0026nbsp;disease \u0026nbsp; disturbances and \u0026nbsp; environmental \u0026nbsp;stress \u0026nbsp;conditions, \u0026nbsp; continue \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp;limit \u0026nbsp; the success \u0026nbsp;of \u0026nbsp;capsicum farming.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYields are low because of the long dry season, which also contributes to dryness on farmland\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Yusniwati \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2008). The \u0026nbsp;pepper \u0026nbsp;plant, \u0026nbsp; related \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp;chilies, \u0026nbsp; is \u0026nbsp;very \u0026nbsp;drought-and heat-sensitive and sensitive to light (Aminifard \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010; Tulung \u0026amp; Demmassabu, 2011). \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;The rate of growth, maturity and biomass accumulation of farmed plants can all be altered by drought stress. Drought is a multidimensional environmental constraint that can provoke crops responses from the molecular to the ecological level (Hamanishi \u0026amp; Campbell, 2011).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlants respond physiologically to drought \u0026nbsp; stress by accumulating proline molecules, which \u0026nbsp;operate as osmoregulatory and \u0026nbsp; osmoprotectant \u0026nbsp; chemicals \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;for \u0026nbsp; cell membranes. Compared to optimal environmental conditions, \u0026nbsp;the \u0026nbsp;proline \u0026nbsp; content of \u0026nbsp;plant \u0026nbsp;leaves \u0026nbsp; increased when \u0026nbsp;plants \u0026nbsp;were \u0026nbsp; exposed \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp;drought \u0026nbsp; (Yusniwati \u003cem\u003eet \u0026nbsp;al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2008). \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eDrought is associated with osmotic stress, which alters ion transport and homeostasis in the cell, lowering agricultural productivity (Kumar, 2013). It inhibits cell expansion, growth, and elongation more than cell division, reducing rice seedling germination and resulting in a drop in tiller numbers and plant height (Ashfaq \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014). Plant biomass production is impeded as a result of water stress, limiting plant growth and output substantially\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Sahebi \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2018).\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eDrought tolerance refers to the plant\u0026apos;s capacity to tolerate water scarcity. Drought sensitivity is greater in cultivated crops than in indigenous landraces (Zhang \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2018; Daryanto\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2017).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVarious methods have been employed from time to time to identify drought-tolerant genotypes and efforts have been made in the past to screen capsicum varieties that differed in drought tolerance (George\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) compounds are used to induce osmotic stress in Petri dishes (in vitro) for plants to maintain uniform water potential during the experimental period. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used often as an abiotic stress inducer in many studies to screen drought-tolerant germplasm (Turkan \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2005; Landjeva \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2008; Ahmad \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2013; Jatoi \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral reports have shown that in vitro screening technique using PEG is one of the dependable approaches for the selection of desirable genotypes to study in detail water scarcity on plant germination indices\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Sakthivelu \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2008; Konate \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2021). Identification of capsicum varieties that can withstand inadequate water conditions is vital to increase crop production and this can be accomplished only by exploring the drought-tolerant varieties of capsicum. The current study was planned to find out appropriate criteria for simple and quick screening of capsicum genotypes that have a higher tolerance to drought. To achieve this we intend to understand the effect of different PEG-6000 concentrations on germination, root length, and shoot length of selective capsicum genotypes. This helps to find out the optimized concentration for quick screening of a large number of mutagenized capsicum genotypes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.2 Statement of the problem\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought stress is a significant environmental factor that can severely impact crop productivity of capsicum (\u003cem\u003eCapsicum annuum\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eL.). As global climate change continues to alter precipitation patterns, understanding how capsicum varieties respond to drought stress at the germination and seedling stages becomes crucial for sustainable agriculture. This study aims to investigate the effect of PEG (Polyethylene glycol)-induced drought stress on the germination and seedling development of different capsicum varieties. Drought stress can lead to reduced germination percentages, delayed seedling emergence, and compromised seedling growth. However, the response of capsicum varieties to drought stress may vary, depending on their genetic makeup and adaptive traits. By subjecting various capsicum varieties to controlled drought stress conditions using PEG, this research seeks to identify varieties \u0026nbsp; that exhibit greater tolerance to PEG-induced drought stress, providing valuable insights for breeding programs aimed at developing drought-resistant capsicum varieties. \u0026ldquo;Climate change\u0026rdquo; has a negative impact on agriculture production. \u0026nbsp;Yield and yield components of capsicum are most affected by drought; 99% yield loss followed by 88% reduction in no. of fruits, 79% reduction in no. of flower buds and an increase of 81% in floral abortion under severe drought was obtained (Showemimo \u0026amp; Olarewaju, 2007).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.3 Rationale of the study \u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought stress is a pervasive environmental challenge that significantly threatens capsicum\u0026rsquo;s productivity. With changing climate patterns leading to increased instances of water scarcity, understanding the responses of crop plants to drought stress becomes imperative for food security. Among crop species, capsicum (\u003cem\u003eCapsicum annuum\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eL.) are vital both as a nutritious food source and a valuable cash crop. Overall, the research\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eaddresses the impending threat of drought stress on capsicum production. The effect of PEG-induced drought stress on capsicum germination and seedling development is of critical importance due to the significance of capsicum in the human diet and the agricultural economy. Understanding how different capsicum varieties respond to drought stress can inform strategies to enhance crop resilience in the face of changing climate conditions. This will help to understand the response of different varieties of capsicum to drought stress \u0026nbsp;and assess drought tolerant varieties. Furthermore, it will enhance productivity of capsicum and mitigate negative impacts of drought stress. Similarly, the variation observed among different capsicum varieties indicates the presence of genetic variability for drought tolerance, suggesting the potential for breeding drought-tolerant capsicum varieties to mitigate the negative impacts of drought stress on crop production.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.4 Objectives\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.4.1 General objective\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eTo identify the drought tolerant varieties of capsicum using PEG induced drought\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.4.2 Specific objectives\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eTo assess the impact of drought stress on growth parameters at seedling stage\u0026nbsp;\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eTo find correlation between different growth parameters\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eTo categorize varieties in different cluster on basis of different growth parameters\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eTo study \u0026nbsp;the interaction between PEG levels and varieties on different parameters\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e"},{"header":"2. Literature Review","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e 2.1 Capsicum and drought\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCapsicum \u0026nbsp;is \u0026nbsp; a \u0026nbsp;valuable commodity \u0026nbsp;because \u0026nbsp; it \u0026nbsp;can \u0026nbsp;be \u0026nbsp; utilized \u0026nbsp;both fresh and dry, making it ideal for a wide variety of culinary applications. Warsi \u0026nbsp;(2013) \u0026nbsp; claims \u0026nbsp;that \u0026nbsp;capsicum is \u0026nbsp; a valuable \u0026nbsp;commodity \u0026nbsp;due \u0026nbsp; to \u0026nbsp;its \u0026nbsp;high \u0026nbsp; vitamin \u0026nbsp;content, antioxidant \u0026nbsp;properties, \u0026nbsp; and \u0026nbsp;versatility \u0026nbsp;in \u0026nbsp; food \u0026nbsp;processing. These numerous advantages bolstered capsicum\u0026apos;s already significant \u0026nbsp; value \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;as \u0026nbsp; a \u0026nbsp; strategic \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;item \u0026nbsp; in the \u0026nbsp; national economy. Several \u0026nbsp;problems, \u0026nbsp; such \u0026nbsp;as plant \u0026nbsp;disease \u0026nbsp; disturbances and \u0026nbsp; environmental \u0026nbsp;stress \u0026nbsp;conditions, \u0026nbsp; continue \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp;limit \u0026nbsp; the success \u0026nbsp;of \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003ecapsicum farming. Yields are \u0026nbsp; low \u0026nbsp; because \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;of \u0026nbsp; the \u0026nbsp; long \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;dry \u0026nbsp; season, \u0026nbsp; which \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;also contributes to dryness on farmland (Yusniwati \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2008). The \u0026nbsp; pepper \u0026nbsp;plant, \u0026nbsp;related \u0026nbsp; to \u0026nbsp;chilies, \u0026nbsp;is \u0026nbsp; very \u0026nbsp;drought-and heat-sensitive and sensitive to light (Aminifard \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010; Tulung \u0026amp; \u0026nbsp;Demmassabu, 2011). The rate of growth, maturity, and biomass accumulation of farmed plants can all be altered by drought stress.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought, flood, cold, chill, frost, elevated CO2 level, heat, and light are abiotic stress factors that severely affect plant growth. The available literature and observations clearly indicated that \u0026ldquo;climate change\u0026rdquo; has a negative impact on agriculture production. A modest evaluation suggests that nearly 90% of the global rural land area is affected by abiotic stress factors at some point throughout the growing period\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Cramer \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011). In general, plants sense changes in climate and adjust their metabolism and growth within their capacity. Generally, plants tolerant to particular abiotic stresses establish metabolic homeostasis and carry on their growth without suffering stress-induced injuries. On the other hand, sensitive plants are unable to establish metabolic homeostasis which results in a reduction in growth, ultimately leading to death (Jogaiah \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013). Plants \u0026nbsp; respond \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;physiologically \u0026nbsp; to \u0026nbsp; drought \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;stress \u0026nbsp; by capsicum by accumulating \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;proline molecules, \u0026nbsp; which \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; operate \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;as osmoregulatory \u0026nbsp; and \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;osmoprotectant \u0026nbsp; chemicals \u0026nbsp; for \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;cell membranes. Compared to optimal environmental conditions, \u0026nbsp;the \u0026nbsp; proline \u0026nbsp;content of \u0026nbsp;plant \u0026nbsp; leaves \u0026nbsp;increased when \u0026nbsp;plants \u0026nbsp; were \u0026nbsp;exposed \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp; drought \u0026nbsp;(Yusniwati \u003cem\u003eet \u0026nbsp; al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2008). \u0026nbsp;Due \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp; a loss \u0026nbsp;in \u0026nbsp; chlorophyll \u0026nbsp;and \u0026nbsp;an \u0026nbsp; increase \u0026nbsp;in secondary \u0026nbsp;metabolites, \u0026nbsp; drought \u0026nbsp;stress \u0026nbsp;also \u0026nbsp; disturbs \u0026nbsp;the metabolic activity of plants (carotenoids). Drought can also reduce Nitrate \u0026nbsp;Reductase \u0026nbsp; Activity (NRA) \u0026nbsp;by \u0026nbsp;interfering with the absorption of nitrogen fertilizers. Nitrate reductase enzymes \u0026nbsp; contribute \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp;the \u0026nbsp; assimilation \u0026nbsp;of \u0026nbsp;nitrate, \u0026nbsp; which influences \u0026nbsp;plant \u0026nbsp;development \u0026nbsp; and \u0026nbsp;yield. \u0026nbsp;When \u0026nbsp; plants \u0026nbsp;were subjected \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp; drought \u0026nbsp;conditions, \u0026nbsp;nitrate \u0026nbsp; reductase \u0026nbsp;activity decreased \u0026nbsp;relative \u0026nbsp; to \u0026nbsp;optimal \u0026nbsp;environmental \u0026nbsp; circumstances (Prella \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2023). \u0026nbsp;The nitrate reductase activity \u0026nbsp;(NRA) can \u0026nbsp;be \u0026nbsp; employed \u0026nbsp;as \u0026nbsp;a \u0026nbsp; plant \u0026nbsp;selection \u0026nbsp;measure \u0026nbsp; since \u0026nbsp;it correlates \u0026nbsp;positively \u0026nbsp; with production, \u0026nbsp;dry \u0026nbsp; weight,total nitrogen, and plant yield. The application of osmopriming to capsicum seeds to generate \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;drought \u0026nbsp; tolerance \u0026nbsp; has \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;not \u0026nbsp; been \u0026nbsp; performed. Therefore, it has not been as widespread as it has been with other \u0026nbsp; varieties \u0026nbsp;of \u0026nbsp;chilies. \u0026nbsp; The \u0026nbsp;prior \u0026nbsp;studies \u0026nbsp; employed PEG with \u0026nbsp;molecular \u0026nbsp;weights \u0026nbsp; of \u0026nbsp;6000 \u0026nbsp;and \u0026nbsp; 8000; \u0026nbsp;however, \u0026nbsp;PEG 4000 has not been utilized extensively (Syaiful \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2015; Yuanasari \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015; Zhang \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015). Furthermore, the application \u0026nbsp; of \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;PEG \u0026nbsp; 6000 on seeds, \u0026nbsp; followed \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;by \u0026nbsp; their cultivation \u0026nbsp;under \u0026nbsp; varying drought \u0026nbsp;stress \u0026nbsp;circumstances, \u0026nbsp;is also \u0026nbsp; new \u0026nbsp;knowledge \u0026nbsp;uncovered \u0026nbsp; by \u0026nbsp;researchers. \u0026nbsp;Therefore, reviewing growth \u0026nbsp;characteristics \u0026nbsp;is necessary \u0026nbsp;to \u0026nbsp;identify the \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;response \u0026nbsp; of \u0026nbsp; capsicum \u0026nbsp; plants \u0026nbsp; to \u0026nbsp; drought \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;stress following osmopriming with PEG 6000, given this context this research was carried out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.2 Production status and environment of capsicum in Nepal\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Nepal, capsicum cultivation is suitable in both Terai and hilly areas. According to the national figures the capsicum was cultivated in 18,250 ha area producing 287,200 tons. Average productivity was reported to be 15.7 tons/ha which is quite low compared to other countries (MoALD, 2022). This may be because the majority of capsicum production was done at subsistence farming, cultivated without proper care or intercropped with other crops. Among the 15 ecological/development belts, center hill produced the largest volume of capsicum followed by eastern hills and central terai.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCapsicum is a warm season crop and is sensitive to frost. Capsicum can be grown optimally in deep, medium textured sandy loam or loamy, fertile and well drained soils. Sites that have good air movement and that are free from problem weeds are preferred. It grows best in temperatures between 20-27\u003csup\u003e0\u003c/sup\u003e C. Fruit setting is poor when average temperatures exceed 30 \u0026deg;C or fall below 10 \u0026deg;C. They prefer well drained soil because they are sensitive to water logging and optimum soil pH should be 6.0 - 7.0. Capsicums are deep rooted crops so the bed should be well prepared and reduce the soil compaction and hard pans. Capsicums are usually transplanted into plastic mulch on raised beds which warm up more quickly in the spring and therefore will enhance earlier growth. The required temperature regime exists in different agro-climatic regions at different times of the year that allows almost year-round production of capsicum by utilizing different geographical regions of the country.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.3 Drought, the severe abiotic factor impacting capsicum production\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought is described as a period of below-average precipitation, fewer rain events, or higher-than-normal evaporation, resulting in a decrease in agricultural productivity and growth (Rollins\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013). Drought is the leading cause of crop failure as a result of climate change (Ritawati \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2021). Drought is presently the most major limiting factor for vegetable producing countries all over the world, and it is becoming more severe as a result of climate change\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Kawasaki \u0026amp; Herath, 2011). Capsicum is a highly sensitive crop to water deficit conditions. Drought stress is characterized by a drop in water content, a decrease in leaf water potential and turgor, stomatal closure, and a decrease in cell expansion and growth. The capsicum experiences many morphological changes in response to drought stress at distinct stages of development. Drought stress significantly increased leaf rolling, leaf senescence, stomatal closure, decreased leaf elongation, and lower dry matter production, as well as decreased plant height, number of leaves and fruit production (Kumar \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015).\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThe interplay of dry times and types had a substantial impact on the number of branches, blooming percentage, and fruit weight per plant.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDifferent parameters are complicated and phenologically interacting biochemical and physiological activities are influenced by a lack of water. According to Mushtaq \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2008), plants can vary their gene expression and protein accumulation in response to drought stress, affecting the nutritional content of capsicum fruits under drought stress circumstances.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought stress reduces cell development (Swain\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2014), biomass production (Farooq \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010), photosynthesis, and increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) buildup (Sohag \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2020), as well as fruit production (Iseki \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014). When water is scarce, there is a reduction in leaf size and pubescence, as well as a change in form and leaf yellowing. Furthermore, during a drought, the formation of new leaves and tillers, as well as stem extension, is delayed. Severe dryness causes leaf drying and, eventually, plant death. Furthermore, dryness causes a decrease in biomass output (Ji \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2012). All of these changes in the normal condition of various tissues and organs interfere with photosynthetic rate and other biochemical activities (Kadam \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015; Usman \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013; Blum, 2011). The decrease in photosynthetic rate is caused by stomatal closure, which limits CO2 diffusion, resulting in decreased photosynthetic enzyme activity and loss or diminution of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids (Yang \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014) due to impairment in their synthesis or post-synthesis degradation. Drought stress reduces phosphorylation and hinders ATP generation, which has been identified as one of the key causes limiting photosynthesis (Fahad \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2017). Drought significantly reduces production components according to research (Muthurajan \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011; Wei \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2017).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.3.1 Types of drought in capsicum\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought can be primarily classified according to the nature of the drought, such as the severity and timing of the drought in relation to the stage of crop development. Drought stress during the growing season can be classified into 3 types, namely drought stress: early in the growing season (early stress), in the middle of the growing season (mild - intermittent stress), and in the late growing season (late stress). Drought stress detrimentally affects production by deteriorating seed germination to the embryo abortion in reproductive stage (Pandey \u0026amp; Shukla 2015, Kumar \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2020, Sohag \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2020). \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVegetative stage drought is common. This can result in delayed transplanting of older seedlings and in extreme cases. Re-planting is normally practiced in such situations, depending on the soil type and the duration of the cultivar and length of the remaining growing season. Vegetative stage drought may reduce production less than terminal drought because of recovery growth in the later growing season, but it demands extra farm labor and raises concerns about unpredictable rainfall and farm labor availability. Thus, vegetative stage drought, particularly during transplanting time, is often mentioned in farmer interviews as a primary concern.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIntermittent drought, which occurs between rainfall occurrences, is the second form of drought. These rainless intervals, however brief, may be repeated. In contrast to terminal drought, intermittent drought is interrupted by a rainfall event, therefore there is no pressing need for water conservation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTerminal dryness occurs well before blooming and primarily develops during the reproductive period. Free water level is strongly connected to fruit output in rain-fed before anthesis till maturity (Ouk\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2007), demonstrating the importance of terminal drought. During the reproductive phase, pollen development and pollination are critical elements for fruit production potential; hence, even little alterations caused by drought during pollination can have a significant impact on fruit production \u0026nbsp;(Sikuku \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2012; Wei \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2017).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to Sikuku \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2012), water deprivation produced a considerable drop in physiological indices such as growth, chlorophyll fluorescence, and biochemical parameters such as chlorophyll and protein content both during the vegetative and reproductive stages. Water deficit at the vegetative stage affected plant height, root length, and plant dry weight more than water deficit at the reproductive stage, whereas water deficit at the reproductive stage affected chlorophyll fluorescence, chlorophyll content, and protein content more than water deficit at the vegetative stage.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.4 Adaptation to drought stress\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought adaptation mechanisms are complicated phenomena that are regulated by several physiological and biochemical systems (Tripathy \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2000). Capsicum adaptability to drought can be classified into three categories:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.4.1\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eDrought escape\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought escape is defined as an adaptation technique for short cycle cultivars capable of producing fruits prior to the advent of drought (Price\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2002; Yue\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2006). Such short-duration cultivars or cultivars with the ability to decrease fruit weight may avoid terminal dryness during the reproductive stage. Early flowering genotypes can escape from late season drought, and this is a simple, but often the most effective, way of increasing production under terminal drought. Replacing late maturing cultivars with medium maturing cultivars that have good production potential in rain-fed lowlands, as has occurred in Cambodia, provides a better chance of escaping late season drought (Ouk \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e, 2007).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.4.2\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eDrought resistance\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought resistance is obtained by cultivars that can take up water from deeper soils by developing a deep root system (Price\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2002; Yue\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2006; Gouda \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2012). Stress induces and triggers root elongation, branching, and growth directions, as do other environmental variables like nutrition availability and hormone status, notably auxins and ABA. The severity of drought during the seedling and vegetative stages determines the magnitude of the plant\u0026apos;s stress avoidance and whether it will develop a deeper and/or more intensive root system with an increased capacity to accumulate dry matter and recover upon re-watering (Bhatnagar- Mathur \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2007; Okami \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015; Xangsayasane \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2014).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.4.3. \u0026nbsp;Drought tolerance\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrought escape is defined as the capacity of plant tissues to maintain a satisfactory water status in the face of low water availability (Labastida \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2023). Leaf rolling is one of genetically defined reactions to water scarcity. Leaf rolling results in less leaf surface exposed to light, less water loss through transpiration, and less radiation damage (Ha, 2014).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOsmotic adjustment and stomatal conductance are two examples of physiological processes. Osmotic adjustment is performed by the accumulation of proline, soluble sugars, glycinebetaine, and other solutes in the cytoplasm (Kato\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011; Gowda \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011, Wei \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2014). Capsicum plants can tolerate water stress by maintaining stomatal and mesophyll conductance, as well as biomass production and partitioning (Price \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2002, Lauteri \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncreased antioxidant activity improves drought tolerance by scavenging reactive oxygen species, according to biochemical reactions. The most significant alteration is the buildup of proline, which works as an osmolyte. Proline chelates metals and so functions as an antioxidant and signaling chemical (Fahramand \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e, 2014). Under drought stress, active accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA) has been shown to significantly activate antioxidant enzymes (Li \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014), regulate stomatal movement (Ahmad et al. 2014), and carbon metabolism (Zhou \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014), in addition to inducing the expression of many genes involved in drought response regulation. Thus, drought responsive genes may directly react with enhanced osmotolerance and protection of plants by preventing cell dehydration. These direct genes encode late embryogenesis proteins, osmoprotectants and detoxification enzymes. Drought inducible genes may also indirectly intervene in signal transduction and gene expression regulation (Lata \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015), including transcription factors and protein kinase.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.5 Screening for drought resistance under moisture stress\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaiti \u003cem\u003eet al.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e(2012) demonstrated great seedling survival, a deep root system, a stay-green character, and a strong recovery after the drought period. In these genotypes, the root system played a larger role in drought tolerance. Bunnag and Pongthai (2013) identified drought resistant, moderately tolerant, and sensitive genotypes during vegetative stage drought using plant characteristics such as plant height and leaf numbers. Water stress due to drought is one of the most significant abiotic factors that limit the seed germination, seeding growth, plants growth and yield (Hartmann \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2005, Van den Bergand Zeng, 2006). \u0026nbsp;Sarvestani \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2008) discovered that water stress during the vegetative stage dramatically reduced plant height. Water stress at the blooming stage reduced fruit output more than water stress at other times. The decrease in fruit production was mostly caused by a decrease in the percentage of fruit set. Water deficits throughout the vegetative blooming and fruit filling phases lowered mean fruit production by 21, 50, and 21%, respectively, when compared to the control. Under water stress, total biomass, harvest index, plant height, full fruit, and fruit weight were all lowered in all cultivars. Water stress at the vegetative stage substantially lowered total biomass due to a reduction in photosynthetic rate and dry matter buildup. The terminal dry spell induced at the blooming stage was shown to be more severe in terms of reducing crop production than the dry spell applied during the vegetative stage. fruit production was reduced by 44.1, 19.1, and 11.90% compared to no dry spell in the terminal stage dry spell, vegetative dry spell, and dry spell, respectively. According to Zou \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2007), genotypes with drought resistance may be identified by assessing production potential, blooming delay, and plant height under well-watered and drought stress test settings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.6 Multivariate analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMultivariate analysis, which evaluates numerous metrics on each individual under investigation at the same time, gives an appropriate evaluation of the degree of variation among genotypes and is often used in genetic diversity research regardless of the dataset (morphological, biochemical, or molecular marker data). Cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) are both multivariate methods used to investigate variation (Maji \u0026amp; Shaibu, 2012; Tiwari \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2020). Several researchers used multivariate analysis to efficiently exploit agro-morphological traits to define and measure variation in a variety of rice (Nachimuthu \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014; Ravikumar\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.6.1 Cluster analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCluster analysis using Euclidean distance is a useful statistical method for assessing the genetic diversity of germplasm collections in terms of attributes considered collectively. Cluster analysis refers to a series of multivariate approaches whose major goal is to group persons or things based on the traits they possess, such that individuals with comparable descriptions are mathematically grouped into the same cluster. Individual clusters should thus have high internal (within cluster) homogeneity and high exterior (between cluster) heterogeneity. Thus, if the categorization is effective, people inside a cluster will be closer when plotted geometrically, whereas individuals from other clusters would be further apart (Hair \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 1998). \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"3. Materials and Methods","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.1 Experiment site\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG) induced drought on the seedling performance of different capsicum varieties at Prakriti Organic Krishi Farm, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu in 2023. Study area lies in the coordinates of 27.765438\u0026deg; N and longitude of 85.365296\u0026deg; E. It is at an elevation of about 1371 meters from mean sea level.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.2 Climate of the site\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn general, the research site has a humid subtropical climate. The average temperature in-summer is 25\u0026deg; \u0026nbsp;to 35\u0026deg; C and in winter around -2 to 15\u0026deg; C. Summers were humid and mild. Most of the precipitation occurs during monsoon season (July- September).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.3 Experimental design and treatments\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe experiment was laid out in a two factorial completely randomized design (CRD) and replicated thrice. Factor A has four capsicum varieties and factor B as three different concentrations of PEG; distilled water was used as a control (0 MPa) and osmotic potentials -0.18 and -0.36 \u0026nbsp; MPa were \u0026nbsp;created by adding Polyethylene Glycol 6000 (PEG-6000) @ 30 and 60 per 100 ml distilled water. capsicum (\u003cem\u003eCapsicum annuum\u003c/em\u003e L) seeds of Boxer, California Wonder, Ganga and Red variety \u0026nbsp; varieties were obtained from Horticultural Development Center Khumaltar and agrovets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo factorial Factor A (Varieties):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eV1 Boxer; V2 California Wonder; V3 Ganga ; V4 Red Variety\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFactor B (PEG concentration):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eP0 0%(0 MPa); P1 3%(-0.18 MPa); P3 6% (-0.36 MPa)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 1:\u003c/strong\u003e Treatment combination details\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"517\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTreatments\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDetails\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTreatments\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDetails\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV1P1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV3P2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV2P1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV4P2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV3P1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV1P3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT4\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV4P1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT10\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV2P3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV1P2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT11\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV3P3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT6\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV2P2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT12\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"25%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eV4P3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.4 Layout of the experiment\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg 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\" width=\"569\" height=\"642\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003cstrong\u003e3.5 Preparation of PEG solution \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDifferent concentrations (0%, 3% and 6%) of Polyethylene Glycol were prepared \u0026nbsp;using distilled water only , PEG-6000 30g and 60g per 1000 ml distilled water respectively. PEG powder, distilled water, \u0026nbsp;beaker, stirring rod or magnetic stirrer, weighing scale were required. The percentage w\\v (percentage weight by volume) represents the amount of solute in grams present in 100ml of solution. PEG 6000 concentration was optimized through a series of experiments that included a range from 2% to 12%, and 4% was observed to be optimum for screening of capsicum germplasm \u0026nbsp;(George \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013). Similar concentration has been used by (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007). The germplasm was investigated against induced water stress using PEG-6000 at 4%. The required amount of PEG powder 30 g and 60 g were weighed using a weighing scale and \u0026nbsp;added gradually to the distilled water. The mixture was stirred using a stirring rod or set up a magnetic stirrer to ensure the PEG powder dissolved completely and continued stirring until the solution appeared clear and homogenous. Then the distilled water, 3% and 6% PEG solution were ready for application.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.6 Method of application\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe different capsicum varieties were primed \u0026nbsp; in distilled water (control), 3% and 6% prepared PEG solutions for 24 hours. The treated seeds were sown in coco-peat trays. Then, the distilled water and the prepared solutions were applied to the sowed seeds in a two day interval.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7 Observations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe parameters used during data recording were as follows: Germination percentage (%), germination speed, days to first germination, plant height, leaf number, shoot length, root length, canopy spread length wise, canopy spread breadthwise, root spread lengthwise, root spread breadthwise, root weight, shoot weight, total biomass, root shoot ratio, Vigor Index (VI), and Vigor Test Index (VTI). Data from five sample plants was used to calculate the average of the observed parameters.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.1 Germination percentage (%)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGermination percentage is a measure of the percentage of seeds that successfully germinate under specific conditions. It indicates the viability and potential for seed germination. Germination percentage was calculated on the basis of the number of normal seedlings\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Anonymous, 1993).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGermination percentage = (Number of Germinated Seeds / Total Number of Seeds) x 100\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.2 Germination speed\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGermination speed is a measure of the number of seeds that successfully germinate after a number of days. It is an important factor to consider when assessing seed quality and evaluating the performance of different plant varieties. It indicates the viability and potential for seed germination. It was calculated using formula:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeed of germination= N\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e/d\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e+N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e/d\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e+N\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e/d\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e+---------- N\u003csub\u003en\u003c/sub\u003e/d\u003csub\u003en\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere, N = number of germinated seeds, d= number of days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.3 Days to first germination (days)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe days to first germination are crucial for the development of a seed into a young plant. During this period, the seed undergoes various physiological and biochemical changes that lead to the emergence of the embryonic plant from the seed coat. It was recorded on the basis of the days on which the first germination was seen. It is important to note that the duration of the days to first germination can vary depending on the plant species, environmental conditions, and seed characteristics.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.4 Plant height (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlant height refers to the vertical measurement of a plant from the base of the stem to the topmost point, which may include leaves, flowers, or fruit. It is an important parameter used to evaluate the growth and development of plants. Plant height was measured using a measuring scale.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.5 Leaf number\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeaf number is a parameter that refers to the count of leaves on a plant. It is a useful metric for assessing plant growth, development, and physiological processes.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.6 Shoot length (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShoot length is a parameter that refers to the measurement of the aboveground portion of a plant, typically from the soil level to the tip of the shoot or the highest point of the plant. It plays a significant role in assessing plant growth, development, and overall performance. It was also measured using a measuring scale.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.7 Root length (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoot length is a parameter that refers to the measurement of the belowground portion of a plant\u0026apos;s root system. Root length was measured using a measuring scale from the crown region to the tip of the tap root. A well-developed root system with adequate root length enables plants to access essential resources for growth and development (Fageria \u0026amp; Moreira, 2011).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.8 Canopy spread (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCanopy spread measures the horizontal extent of a plant\u0026apos;s canopy. It was measured perpendicular to the main axis.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.9 Root spread (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoot spread lengthwise is the lateral extension of a plant\u0026apos;s root system, representing its width as it grows. It was measured using a measuring scale. Iit provides valuable information about the spatial distribution and exploration of the root system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.10 Root weight (g)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoot weight is the mass of the below-ground portion of a plant, specifically the root system. To measure root weight, plants were uprooted, shoots removed, and excess soil removed. Careful removal of visible soil particles was done to avoid damaging roots. Data from five sample plants was analyzed, providing insights into below-ground biomass, root growth, and root system development. Root weight can be used to compare treatments, assess environmental factors on root growth, study root-to-shoot ratio, and evaluate nutrient uptake and resource allocation efficiency. Root weight decreased under abiotic stress (Zaidi \u003cem\u003eet al\u003c/em\u003e., \u0026nbsp;2003).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.11 Shoot weight (g)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShoot weight is the mass of the above-ground portion of a plant, including stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, or other aerial structures. It was measured by uprooting the plant, removing the root and soil, and using precise balance. Shoot weight provides valuable information about plant growth, productivity, and biomass allocation patterns. Shoot weight decreases under abiotic stress (Zaidi\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2003).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.12 Total biomass (g):\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTotal biomass refers to the combined weight or mass of all living organic matter within a specific area or system. We estimated total biomass by uprooting and weighing. Total collapse of tissue and reduced shoot biomass (AbuQamar\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2009). Abiotic stress significantly lower biomass than the population (Kissoudis \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.13 Root Shoot ratio (RS ratio):\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Root Shoot Ratio, also known as the root-to-shoot ratio, is a measure used to quantify the allocation of biomass between the root system and the shoot (above-ground) system of a plant. The root and shoot were cured and then oven dried at 70\u0026deg;C for two days. The oven dried weight was recorded for root and shoot differently and the ratio was calculated using the formula:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoot Shoot Ratio = Root Biomass/ Shoot Biomass\u003c/strong\u003e (Raji \u0026amp; Thangavelu, 2021)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;Root /shoot ratio increased under water stress (\u0026Ouml;zen\u0026ccedil;, 2008). Generally, a higher Root Shoot Ratio indicates a relatively larger investment of resources in the root system, which is often associated with plants adapted to resource-limited conditions, such as arid environments. Conversely, a lower root shoot ratio suggests a relatively larger investment in the shoot system, which is commonly observed in fast-growing, competitive plants with ample resources.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.7.14 Vigor Test Index (VTI)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Vigor Test Index (VTI) is a tool used to evaluate the vigor or physiological quality of seeds. It measures a seed\u0026apos;s ability to germinate, establish, and produce a healthy seedling. The VTI is calculated using various seed vigor tests, which evaluate various aspects of seed quality and performance under specific conditions. Common tests include germination, accelerated aging, cold, electrical conductivity, seedling, and Vigor Index. This study used formulas to calculate the VTI.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVigor Test Index = (average of root length and shoot length)*G%\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA higher Vigor Test Index value indicates better seed quality and vigor (Sheidaei \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014). The index serves as a useful tool for seed producers, seed companies, and researchers in evaluating seed quality, predicting seedling performance, and making informed decisions regarding seed selection, storage, and planting.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.8 Data analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eData entry and quantitative analysis were carried out using Microsoft office Excel 2016. \u0026nbsp;For the quantitative traits the Analysis of Variance was performed using the F test and in order to group the accessions, the DMRT test was used in R studio 4.1.1. The treatment means were compared by the \u0026nbsp;Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level (Gomez \u0026amp; Gomez, 1984). Statistical significance was set at 5 % (p \u0026lt; 0.05). Calculation of means was done using R (4.1.1) for quantitative data. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated and present through heat map using Metan package in R.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor cluster analysis, the Euclidean distance was obtained and clustering was performed using cluster tree method. Cluster tree was obtained using the cluster package. The data was submitted to Average Linkage cluster analysis based on mean Euclidean distances and similarity index (Sneath \u0026amp; Sokal, 1973).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ANOVA table for the experiment with twelve treatments and three replications was as follows:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 3:\u003c/strong\u003e ANOVA table design for research\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"638\"\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSource of variation\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eD.f.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eS.S.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eM.S.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eF value\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eF pr.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eVarieties\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eG-1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSS1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMS\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMS\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e/MS\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePEG concn\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eP-1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSS2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMS\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMS\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e/MS\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eInteraction\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eResiduals\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;SS3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;MS3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"16.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e"},{"header":"4. Results And Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe current experiment was designed to evaluate four capsicum varieties using different traits in order to reveal their reaction to moisture stress, which was controlled by PEG 6000. The current study\u0026apos;s experimental findings are presented under the following headings, and the available information on many parts of the inquiry has been discussed. The results obtained from the experiments undertaken to assess the drought tolerant varieties of capsicum. The results were assessed and discussed with supporting evidence from previous research.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe analysis of variance for the traits of four varieties studied under different concentrations of PEG 6000 stimulated drought and non-stressed control indicated presence of wide variability between varieties. Mean performance of seedling traits under various PEG concentrations and non stressed control are shown in Appendix.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.1 Germination percentage (%)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration germination percentage. Boxer and California Wonder Ganga \u0026nbsp;showed statistically similar germination percentages \u0026nbsp; at control, 3% and 6% concentration. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed minimum germination percentage 46.67% at control, 46.67% at 3% (-0.18 MPa ) and 26.66 at 6% (-0.36 MPa).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoxer germplasm showed 100% germination even at a higher dose of 3% PEG. Similar response was found Basha \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e (2015) which showed AR germplasm showed similar \u0026nbsp;germination even at the higher dose of PEG. Among investigated germplasm Ganga (73.33%) \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;and Red variety (26.66%) showed \u0026nbsp; germination percentage reduction with increasing \u0026nbsp;PEG concentration than the other varieties, similar response was found Basha \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2015) which showed among investigated germplasm, the AR genotype showed low germination percentage reduction with increasing PEG concentration than the other genotypes AV, YVU-1 and YVU-2. The PEG inhibited the germination of the susceptible lines and caused them a record low germination percentage. PEG 6000 reduces maximum germination by 10% to 20%. (Yari \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2012). PEG 6000 at 10% and 15% reduces germination percentage (Nezhad \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2013). Red Variety showed the lowest germination percentages at increasing PEG concentration which showed its susceptibility to drought which is supported by study of Dodd and Donavon (1999) stated that PEG induced reduction in germination percentage was because of reduction in the water potential gradient between seeds and their surroundings (George\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013). The higher germination percentages of the tolerant germplasm may be due to their capability to absorb water even under PEG induced water stress.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.2 Germination speed\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on germination speed.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoxer and California Wonder showed statistically similar germination speed \u0026nbsp;at control, 3% and 6% concentration which showed they are tolerant to higher water stress condition, similar result was found by Soni \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2011) reported that tolerant genotypes showed similar germination speed under stressed conditions and were found to be more tolerant at seedling stage. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed minimum germination speed 2.4 at control, which decreased statistically significantly at 3% to 2.013 which is statistically similar at 6% (1.947).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRed variety showed drastic reduction as it was susceptible to drought conditions which is supported by study of Dodd and Donavon (1999) stated that PEG induced reduction in germination speed was because of reduction in the water potential gradient between seeds and their surroundings (George \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2013). The PEG inhibited the germination speed of the susceptible lines and caused them a record low germination speed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.3 \u0026nbsp;Days to first germination (days)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on days to first germination. Boxer showed a statistically similar day to first germination at control, 3% and 6% concentration. California Wonder took a minimum 10 days to first germinate at control which statistically increased to 18.67 days at 3% which is statistically similar with 6% (13.33 days). \u0026nbsp;Ganga took 12 days to first germinate at control which statistically increased to 20.33 days at 3% which is statistically similar to 6% (18.67days). Red variety \u0026nbsp;took a maximum 14.667 days to first germinate at control, which statistically increased to 23.667 days at 3% which was statistically similar to 6% (27 days). Germination was delayed as the PEG concentration increased and different concentrations of PEG had a significant effect on the time of germination of different capsicum varieties. The days to first germination of all varieties increased with increasing peg concentration, similar response was found by Basha \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2015) which showed AR germplasm showed an increase in day to first germination by one fourth at the higher dose of 16% PEG. The PEG inhibited the days to first germination of the susceptible lines and caused it to take more days to germinate. Similar results \u0026nbsp; increased in days to first germination with the increase of PEG were noted in chick peas also (Kaur \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 1998). The increasing time was quite higher for the Red variety than others which showed its susceptibility to drought. PEG 6000 increases the days to seed garmination 10% to 20% (Yari \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2012). PEG 6000 at 10% and 15% increased days of germination (Nezhad \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2013). The shorter time \u0026nbsp;for seed germination of the tolerant germplasm may be due to their capability to absorb water even under PEG induced water stress. Hegarty (1977) and Turk \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e (2004) reported that water stress at germination stage delayed or reduced or hinder germination completely, leading for more time to germinate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.4 Plant height (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on plant height. Boxer showed maximum plant height \u0026nbsp;5.53cm which was statistically similar to all other varieties at control. Then plant height of all varieties decreased at 3% which then remained statistically similar at 6%. Declined water contents tend to reduce leaf area in tomato genotypes (Jurekova \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011) which in turn results in reduced shoot lengths (Unyayar \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e, 2005). Declined plant height was reported by Abdel-Raheem\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.\u003c/em\u003e (2007) in tomatoes under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG. Remarkable decrease in plant height of tomato has also been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.5 Leaf number\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant variation in leaf numbers among different capsicum varieties and different PEG induced drought. Marked variation was observed for leaf numbers ranging from 2.43 to 4.17 with an average of 3.56 \u0026plusmn; 0.334. Maximum leaf numbers were displayed by California Wonder (4.17) which was statistically similar with Ganga (3.87), and Boxer (3.76). Leaf number was found minimum 3.28 in 6% PEG and maximum 4.32 in control condition (0%). Minimum leaf numbers were observed in Red Variety (2.43). Interaction was non-significant between varieties and PEG concentration for leaf number. Declined leaf number was reported by Abdel-Raheem \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2007) under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG. Remarkable decrease in leaf number has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007). A higher leaf number typically indicates a larger photosynthetic surface area and a potentially higher assimilate production, leading to increased plant biomass and productivity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 4: Leaf number of different varieties under different PEG induced drought condition\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"589\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVarieties\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLeaf Number\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eBoxer\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.76\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCalifornia Wonder\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.17\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGanga\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.87\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"bottom\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRed Variety\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.43\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLSD(0.05)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.13\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSEm (+-)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.334\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eF test\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.01**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCV, %\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e32.20\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGrand Mean\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.56\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePEG Concentration\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.32\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.07\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.28\u003csup\u003eb\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLSD(0.05)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.98\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSEm (+-)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.334\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eF test\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.012**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCV,%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e32.20\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eGrand Mean\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.56\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"51.95246179966044%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eInteraction F test\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"48.04753820033956%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.46\u003csup\u003ens\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.6 Root length (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on root length. Boxer, California Wonder and Ganga \u0026nbsp;showed statistically similar root length at control, 3% and 6% concentration which were maximum. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed minimum root length 2.87 cm at control, which was statistically similar at 3% to 3.05 cm which was decreased statistically to 2.12 cm at 6%. Those varieties maintain the root length even at a higher water stress condition which was in line with Kulkarni and Deshpande, (2007) reported that early and rapid elongation of roots is a key trait of drought tolerance. It may be because they possess drought tolerant genes. This result was in contrast to the result of Ghafoor (2013); strong negative correlation coefficient was noted between root length and PEG concentration with more than -0.81 correlation coefficient values. However, Red Variety showed a drastic decrease in root length which is similar to the result of Ghafoor (2013); strong negative correlation coefficient was noted between root length and PEG concentration with more than -0.81 correlation coefficient values. Red Variety showed susceptibility to drought stress as they showed decrease in root length compared to other varieties. Root length plays a vital role in plant growth, nutrient acquisition, stability, and adaptation to environmental conditions. It influences the plant\u0026apos;s ability to access water and nutrients, interact with soil microorganisms, and withstand stresses. Root length is an important adaptive trait in response to various environmental stresses. In challenging soil conditions, such as low nutrient availability or drought, plants with longer roots can explore a larger soil volume to find and extract limited resources (Amtmann\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2022). Remarkable decrease in root length has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations was reported by Jajarmi \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2009) and similar results like reduction in root length with increasing osmotic stress was identified in pea plants (Whalley \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e1998). Relative increase in root length in 80% genotypes was observed under drought stress as compared to control because of their capacity to survive and those performing better under \u0026nbsp;the stress \u0026nbsp;are considered as drought tolerant (Oliveira \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2011). Hence, genotypes with the ability of rapid root elongation under stress conditions are likely to be drought stress tolerant, and they retain continuous root elongation process by extracting water under stressed conditions (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.7 Shoot length (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration for shoot length. Boxer, California Wonder \u0026nbsp;and Ganga \u0026nbsp;showed statistically similar shoot length at control, 3% and 6% concentration which were maximum. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed minimum shoot length 2.3 cm at control, which decreased statistically to 1.62 cm at 3% which was statistically similar at 6% to 1.22 cm.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA strong negative correlation between shoot length and PEG concentration has been observed (Basha \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015). Red variety showed a common trend i.e. reduction rate in shoot length with increasing concentration of PEG (Basha \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015). The decline in shoot length traits in response to induced osmotic stress is a commonly observed phenomenon which depends on the tolerance capacity of the genotypes (Aazami \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010). Decreasing in growth rate with increasing osmotic stress was reported in several studies (Waseem \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2006; Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007; Abdel- Raheem \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2007; Aazami \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010; Hamayun \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e, 2010). Comprehensive investigations such as using various plant growth regulators (Hussain \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2010), proline accumulation under stress (Ali \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011), antioxidants assays etc. on these varieties could give more important information for selecting appropriate germplasm. Declined water contents tend to reduce shoot length (Jurekova \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011). \u0026nbsp;Relative increase in shoot length of 50% genotypes was observed under drought stress as compared to control because of their capacity to survive and those performing better under \u0026nbsp;the stress \u0026nbsp; are considered as drought tolerant (Oliveira\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;et al.\u003c/em\u003e, 2011).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.8 Canopy spread (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration for canopy spread lengthwise. Canopy spread lengthwise of Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga was statistically similar at control decreased with increasing PEG concentration to 3 and 6%. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed minimum Canopy spread lengthwise 3.15 cm at control, which was decreased to 1.51 cm at 3% and then to 0.89 cm at 6%. Decline in canopy spread lengthwise was reported by Abdel-Raheem \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2007) under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG. Remarkable decrease in canopy spread lengthwise was observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007). \u0026nbsp;It provides information about the lateral growth and coverage of the plant. Overall, canopy spread breadthwise is an important parameter for assessing the lateral growth, resource utilization, microclimate modification, and production potential of plants. Understanding and managing the breadthwise extent of the canopy can optimize light interception, and resource efficiency. Declined water contents tend to reduce canopy spread varieties (Jurekova \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011) which in turn results in reduced shoot lengths (Unyayar \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2005). Ibrahim (1990) reported similar findings for chickpea where a greater reduction was seen in vegetative parts with decreased branch production.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.9 Root spread (cm)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration for root spread. The maximum root spread (6.28 cm) was statistically similar with \u0026nbsp;California Wonder and Ganga at all PEG concerntrations. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed statistically similar root spread at control and 3% which was statistically decreased to 0.87 cm at 6%. Reduced root spread under osmotic stress conditions have been reported in safflower (Jajarmi, 2009) and pea (Whalley \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 1998). \u0026nbsp;It is a well known fact that root architecture influences the yield and other agronomic traits, particularly under stress conditions (Ludlow \u0026amp; Muchow, 1990; Dorlodot \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2007). \u0026nbsp;It\u0026apos;s important to note that root spread breadthwise can vary depending on factors such as plant species, growth conditions, and soil characteristics. Additionally, the lateral extent of the roots can be influenced by factors like root architecture, root density, and the presence of physical barriers. It provides insights into the spatial distribution of roots, their foraging capability, and their ability to access resources in the soil.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.10 Root weight (g)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on root weight. Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga showed statistically similar \u0026nbsp;root weight at 0%, 3% and 6%. whereas Red Variety showed the minimum (0.015g) \u0026nbsp;root weight which was statistically similar at 3% but decreased at 6% to 0.07 g. Reduction in root weight under osmotic stress conditions have been reported in safflower (Jajarmi, 2009) and pea (Whalley \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 1998). \u0026nbsp;It is a well known fact that root architecture influences the yield and other agronomic traits, particularly under stress conditions (Ludlow \u0026amp; Muchow, 1990; Dorlodot \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2007).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.11 Shoot weight (g)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on shoot weight. Boxer showed a maximum shoot weight of 0.087, which was statistically similar to California Wonder, and Ganga at control. It was statistically decreased at 3% to 0.029, which was statistically similar to 6% (0.039). Similarly, California Wonder also showed a reduction in shoot weight at 3% with an increase in PEG concentration which was statistically similar at 6%. Ganga showed statistically similar shoot weight at control and 3% but declined at 6%. The Red variety showed a drastic decrease in shoot weight on higher concentrations at 3 and 6% PEG concentration.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeclined shoot growth was reported by Abdel-Raheem \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2007) in capsicum under osmotic stress conditions induced by PEG which directly reduced the shoot weight. Remarkable decrease in shoot weight has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007) and Leskovar \u0026amp; Piccinni (2005). Poorter and Nagel (2000) indicated water and nutrient limitations led to carbon translocation from leaves to roots and reduced shoot weight. Declined water contents tend to reduce shoot length in genotypes (Jurekova \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011) which in turn results in reduced shoot weight (Unyayar \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2005).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.12 Total biomass (g)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on total biomass. Boxer showed a maximum \u0026nbsp;total biomass of 0123, which was statistically similar to at 3% and it was similar at 6% too.. California Wonder also showed a reduction in \u0026nbsp;total biomass at 3%, which was statistically similar at 6%. Ganga showed statistically similar \u0026nbsp;total biomass at control and 3% but declined at 6%. The Red variety showed a continuous significant and drastic reduction in \u0026nbsp;total biomass with increasing PEG concentrations to 3% and 6%.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeedling biomass affected by PEG solution in capsicum has also been recorded by Nahar \u0026amp; Gretzmacher (2002). A remarkable decrease in the total biomass of capsicum has been observed with increasing PEG concentrations (Kulkarni \u0026amp; Deshpande, 2007) and (Leskovar \u0026amp; Piccinni, 2005). Declined water contents tend to reduce shoot length (Jurekova \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2011) which in turn results in reduced total biomass (Unyayar \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2005). Shoot weight reduced under abiotic stress \u0026nbsp;reduced the total biomass (Zaidi \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2003). The varieties which showed positive behavior under stressed conditions as compared to control may carry a kind of tolerance mechanism, which makes plants capable of retaining a good turgor pressure and absolute water level under stressed conditions (Saxena \u0026amp; Toole, 2002).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.13 Root Shoot ratio (RS ratio)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe interaction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on root shoot ratio. Boxer, California Wonder and Ganga \u0026nbsp;showed statistically similar RS ratios at control which statistically increased at \u0026nbsp;3% and remained the same at 6% concentration. Red variety \u0026nbsp;showed minimum RS ratios 1.28 at control, which decreased statistically to 0.833 at 3% which was statistically similar at 6% to 1.1772.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGenerally, a higher Root Shoot ratio indicates a relatively larger investment of resources in the root system, which is often associated with plants adapted to resource-limited conditions, such as arid environments (Hao \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010). Conversely, a lower Root Shoot ratio suggests a relatively larger investment in the shoot system, which is commonly observed in fast-growing, competitive plants with ample resources (Grime, 2006). Root traits associated with maintaining plant productivity under drought include small fine root diameters, long specific root length, and considerable root length density, especially at depths in soil with available water (Comas \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2013).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.14 Vigor Test Index (VTI)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInteraction was significant between varieties and PEG concentration on vigor test index. The vigor test index of Boxer was maximum which was statistically similar with \u0026nbsp;all the concentrations. California Wonder and Ganga at control and 3% was statistically similar, which was statistically similar at 6%. The Red variety showed a continuous drastic reduction in \u0026nbsp;vigor test index with increasing PEG concentrations 3% and 6%.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA higher vigor test index value indicates better seed quality and vigor (Sheidaei \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2014). The index serves as a useful tool for seed producers, seed companies, and researchers in evaluating seed quality, predicting seedling performance, and making informed decisions regarding seed selection, storage, and planting. Detailed studies focusing on the level of proline accumulation under stress (Ali \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2011) or the application of plant growth regulators (Hussain \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2010) in these genotypes could render further useful information for selecting suitable genotypes.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.15 Correlation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCorrelation coefficient of various morphological traits was determined and is presented on Figure 16. Among observed parameters, plant height, total biomass, canopy spread, vigor test index, leaf number, germination percentage, germination speed, root spread and root length showed positive correlation with each other. Above parameters showed negative correlation with day to first germination. \u0026nbsp;A strong negative correlation between shoot length and PEG concentration has been observed (Basha \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 2015). The germplasm which has better growth under a stressed environment may have drought tolerance mechanisms in it and these plants may have capability of holding a homeostasis under stressed conditions (Saxena \u0026amp; Toole, 2002). Siddique \u003cem\u003eet al.\u003c/em\u003e (2014) explained that plants with better early vigor can increase the crop water use efficiency. Several reports indicated that better growth under stress conditions as a trait to select germplasm to improve the yield (Richards, 2000).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.16 Multivariate analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.16.1 Clustering\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe four capsicum varieties were grouped into two clusters based on the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA). The presence of significant differences among varieties for different characters justified further calculation of Euclidean generalized distance (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) (Sharma, 1998). D\u003csup\u003e2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003ewas used to measure the genetic divergence among the landraces and their grouping was done by ward D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e method. In cluster I, one variety Red Variety was grouped as shown in figure 17, which represents 20 % of the total varieties with drought susceptible characters. \u0026nbsp; Cluster II was the included three varieties Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga representing 80 % of the total varieties with higher drought resistant characters.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSelection of genotypes for hybridization to generate diverse new gene combinations should be based on genetic diversity rather than geographic diversity (Meena \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2015). In general, less intra-cluster distance than inter cluster distance suggested homogeneous and heterogeneous nature of the genotypes within and between the clusters, respectively (Nalla \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e2014). If the categorization is effective, people inside a cluster will be closer when plotted geometrically, whereas individuals from other clusters would be further apart (Hair \u003cem\u003eet al.,\u003c/em\u003e 1998). \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4.16.1.1 Estimation of intra and inter cluster square distances (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe estimation of intra and inter cluster square distances (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) distance between clusters was determined using the Euclidean distance, and are presented in Table 5. The lowest varietal Euclidean distance (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e=72.398) was exhibited by Boxer with California Wonder followed by Ganga (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e=108.948) and highest (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e=607.908) with Red Variety. The varietal Euclidean distance (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e=36.861) was exhibited by Ganga as the lowest one followed by Boxer (72.398) and Red Variety (535.766). Similarly, for Ganga the minimum varietal Euclidean distance (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e=36.861) was exhibited with California Wonder followed by Boxer (108.948) and then by Red Variety (499.042). Again, the Red variety exhibited the minimum Euclidean distance with Ganga (D\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e=499.042) , then greater with California Wonder (535.7658) and then maximum with Boxer (607.908). \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 5: Euclidean Similarity Indices\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"590\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.52542372881356%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"14.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBoxer\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"24.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalifornia Wonder\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGanga\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRed Variety\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.52542372881356%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBoxer\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"14.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"24.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e72.3978\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e108.94824\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e607.90786\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.52542372881356%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalifornia Wonder\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"14.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e72.3978\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"24.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e36.860994\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e535.7658\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.52542372881356%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGanga\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"14.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e108.94824\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"24.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e36.860994\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e499.04151\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.52542372881356%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRed Variety\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"14.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e607.90786\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"24.23728813559322%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e535.7658\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e499.04151\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"20%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e"},{"header":"5. Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eDrought stress is a significant environmental factor affecting plant growth and crop productivity, and understanding its impact on tomato production is crucial for development of drought-tolerant varieties. Boxer and California Wonder showed similar responses \u0026nbsp;in most of the parameters so they can be considered as highly drought tolerant whereas \u0026nbsp; Ganga showed significantly reduced performances in few parameters at seedling stage with increase in PEG concentration and fall under less tolerant variety. Unlike these varieties, Red Variety showed drastic reduction in all the parameters and they can be considered as drought susceptible. Results showed these varieties were more tolerant even up to higher drought conditions up to -0.36 MPa, but the red variety was susceptible even to lower drought conditions (-0.18 MPa). The four capsicum varieties were grouped into two clusters, with the Red variety genotype in one and Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga under another. The promising varieties Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga were identified as drought tolerant and can be utilized in breeding programs aimed at developing drought tolerant capsicum varieties or can be recommended in areas with lower irrigation facilities. Based on the results, it is recommended to explore the genetic basis of drought tolerance in capsicum varieties. This can be achieved through genetic studies, such as quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and genomic selection, to identify the key genes and markers associated with drought tolerance in these tolerant varieties Boxer, Ganga, and California Wonder. Furthermore, breeding programs should be initiated to develop new capsicum varieties with enhanced drought tolerance, incorporating the identified drought-tolerant genetic traits and genes.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Abbreviations","content":"\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"600\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Percentage\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026deg;C\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eAFU\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Degree Celsius\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Agriculture and Forestry University \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eANOVA\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ecm\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Analysis of Variance\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Centimeter\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCRD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Completely Randomized Design\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCV\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Coefficient of Variance\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDMRT\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Duncan\u0026rsquo;s Multiple Range Test\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eet al.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: et alii, and others\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFAO\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Food and Agricultural Organization\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eg\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eG%\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Gram\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e:Germination percentage\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eha\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Hectare\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ei.e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: That is\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLSD\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003em\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Least Significant Difference\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Meter\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMPa\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Megapascal\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ens\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eon par\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Non-Significant\u003cbr\u003e: at the same level\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eRH\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSEm\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSS\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSTAT\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Relative Humidity\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Standard Error of Mean\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Sum of square\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Statistics\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003et ha\u003csup\u003e-1\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Ton Per Hectare\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eVI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eVTI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Vigor Index\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Vigor Test Index\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"21.666666666666668%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eWt.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd width=\"78.33333333333333%\" valign=\"top\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e: Weight\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eACKNOWLEDGEMENT\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll praises are due to the God who enabled the author to pursue his higher education \u0026nbsp;and complete the present research work and research report for the degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Agriculture. The author feels proud to express her deep sense of gratitude, profound respect, sincere appreciation and heartfelt indebtedness to her honorable research supervisor, Assistant Prof. Dr Suman Karki, CNRM, Puranchaur, Agriculture \u0026nbsp;and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan for his continuous encouragement and inspiration, scholastic and systematic supervision, invaluable advice, constructive criticism and generous help during the entire period of research work and preparation of the research report. I am also thankful to my members of advisory Committee Narayan Kumar Shrestha, Chief, AKC , Lalitpur, Asha Sharma, Senior Agriculture Officer, Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP), Khumaltar, \u0026nbsp;Lalitpur. Similarly, I want to show my heartfelt gratitude to the Prakriti Organic Krishi Farm, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu who provided a suitable environment for the research. \u0026nbsp;It is a great opportunity for the author to express his profound respect and immense indebtedness to my LEE mate Pankaj Kumar Yadav for his generous help in the completion of the research work. The author would like to extend his heartfelt appreciation to all other professors of Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal valuable teaching and their constructive suggestions and cooperation feelings during the entire period of the research. It is worthy to express a few words of gratitude to Aastha Dahal as site advisor, batch mates and juniors for their heartfelt concern and intimate accompaniment throughout the stay in AFU. The author joyously acknowledges. Lastly, my family deserves a special recognition whose love, endless support, affection, co-operation and encouragement has helped me come this far in my academic life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinally many individuals, institutions and organizations provided significant contributions to this study and the author despair of naming all who should be mentioned here. \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbdel-Raheem, A.T., Ragab, A.R., Kasem, Z.A., Omar,F.D. and Samera, A.M. (2007). In vitro selection for tomato plants for drought tolerance via callus culture under polyethylene glycol (PEG) and mannitol treatments. \u003cem\u003eAfr. Crop Sci. So\u003c/em\u003ec., 8: 2027-2032 \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbuQamar, S., Luo, H., Laluk, K., Mickelbart, M. V., \u0026amp; Mengiste, T. (2009). 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Screening for drought resistance of rice recombinant inbred populations in the field. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Integrative Plant Biology\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e49\u003c/em\u003e(10), 1508-1516.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Agriculture and Forestry University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Climate change, Drought, Food security, Stress, Capsicum, Tolerant","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4007557/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4007557/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFood security is one of the major global challenges of the twenty-first century. Crop yield is estimated to decline by 5 to 30% from 2050 onwards compared to 1990. Climate change has a major impact on crop production. Drought stress is a significant environmental factor affecting plant growth and crop productivity and understanding its impact on capsicum production is crucial for development of drought-tolerant varieties. This experiment was carried out to find the drought tolerant varieties. The study was conducted in two factorial \u0026nbsp;completely randomized designs with three replications, subjecting capsicum seeds of four different varieties to three different polyethylene glycol concentrations. The observation revealed that Boxer and California wonder showed statistically similarity in most of the growth parameters where Ganga showed significantly reduced performances in few parameters at seedling stage with increase in PEG concentration.\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c/strong\u003eUnlike these varieties, Red Variety showed drastic reduction in all the parameters. Results showed these varieties were more tolerant even up to higher drought conditions up to -0.36 MPa, but the red variety was susceptible even to lower drought conditions (-0.18 MPa). The four capsicum varieties were grouped into two clusters, with the Red variety genotype in one and Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga under another. The promising varieties Boxer, California Wonder, and Ganga were identified as drought tolerant and can be utilized in breeding programs aimed at developing drought tolerant capsicum varieties or can be recommended in areas with lower irrigation facilities. Based on the results, it is recommended to explore the genetic basis of drought tolerance in capsicum genotypes. This can be achieved through genetic studies, such as quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and genomic selection, to identify the key genes and markers associated with drought tolerance in these tolerant varieties Boxer, Ganga, and California Wonder. Furthermore, breeding programs should be initiated to develop new capsicum varieties with enhanced drought tolerance, incorporating the identified drought-tolerant genetic traits and genes.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Effect of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress on germination and seedling development of capsicum varieties","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-03-04 07:00:03","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4007557/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"457c0603-b3fe-4abc-b31e-90c328c641d2","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 4th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":29096466,"name":"Horticulture"},{"id":29096467,"name":"Plant Physiology and Morphology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-03-04T07:00:03+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-03-04 07:00:03","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4007557","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4007557","identity":"rs-4007557","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}