Impact of Polyethylene Glycol-Induced Drought Stress on In Vitro Shoot Regeneration in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes

The research was conducted to determine the regeneration ability of ten wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes using callus clumps as ex-plant source. The experiment had six levels of drought stress as treatments (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% PEG levels) including control, fortified with BAP, Kinetin and 5mg/2,4-Dichlorophenoxy Acetic Acid (2,4-D) for the period of four weeks, with each treatment replicated three times, the data on days to mean callus shoot regeneration recorded the shortest mean days to regeneration of 14 in genotype 28 under 10% stress level, while the lengthiest was 31 days in genotype 21 under stress level 25%, also the highest number of regeneration was 5 with genotype 8 under 0% stress level, while the lowest was 0 in genotypes 21 and 22 under stress level 25%, the highest percentage shoot regeneration was 100% in genotype 8 under 0% stress, while the lowest percentage shoot was 0 in genotype 21 and 22 under 25% stress level. Meanwhile ANOVA was significantly different for both days to regeneration and number of regenerations between the treatment mean (p< 0.05), while Pearson correlation coefficient among the genotypes presented a positive correlation except between 10% and 0%, 15% and 5%, 15% and 10%. The result of this work can be used to recommend species that should be use for drought prone areas