Author(s):

Shweti, Ashok Kumar and JS Verma

Abstract: Nickel (Ni) is an essential micronutrient for seed germination and plant growth at low concentration. It becomes toxic when the concentration is high in the soil and in plants. However the efficiency of tolerance depends on the plants species. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of varying concentration of nickel chloride on germination and seedling growth. A petriplates culture method was adopted to study the response of nickel chloride on nine wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em thell.) cultivars. The seeds of wheat cultivars were germinated in petriplates lined with whatman filter paper no-1 and treated with various concentration of nickel chloride 5,10,25,50 and 75 mg/L respectively and distilled water was used as control. The germination percentage, seedling growth and weight were recorded at ten days after soaking. The lower concentration (5 mg/L) of nickel chloride has no adverse effect on germination, shoot and root length and weight, seedling growth while the higher concentration decreased the germination, seedling growth, shoot and root length and weight. The result indicates that the low amount of nickel chloride is required for wheat cultivars. Whereas, the increasing level of nickel chloride reduced plant growth and cause toxicity. It is also cleared from findings that the cultivars HD-2985 was more tolerant. HD-3086 was moderately tolerant and PBW-343 was the most sensitive on the basis of germination and growth parameters.

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