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A laboratory research carried out to evaluate the effect of drought stress on germination characteristics in two 'Indian' and 'Isfahanian' populations of Fenugreek. This experiment performed in a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replicates. Four levels of drought stress applied by using polyethylene glycol 6000. Percentage of germination, germination rate, vigor index, root and shoot length as well as fresh and dry weight were measured after 7 days. The results showed that drought stress caused a significant reduction in both population growth and germination, although the percentage of germination, seedling growth and vigor index in the Isfahanian population was higher than the Indian. With the increase of water stress and the reduction of water potential from -3 Bar to -7 Bar, the percentage of germination, vigor index, root and shoot length as well as fresh and dry weight significantly decreased.

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Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant growth and productivity. Since agricultural soils in Iran are predominantly calcareous with very low available Pi content, Pi deficiency has been considered to be a major nutritional constraint for crop production, thus, the application of Pi-fertilizers is essential for satisfactory crop production. The application of Pi-fertilizers contaminates soil and water resources. Therefore, the application of Pi-fertilizers should be reduced through some efficient strategies. The identification of genotypes more tolerant to Pi deficiency is an important low-cost strategy to promote sustainable agriculture in low fertility soils. In this study, the morphological and biochemical responses of five cultivars of common bean (Talash, Mahali Khomein, Sadri, Kosha and Line Ks21191) were evaluated under Pi sufficiency and Pi deficiency. Under Pi-deficient conditions, fresh and dry weights and shoot length were lower while root length was higher in comparison with Pi-sufficient conditions. Under Pi-deficient conditions, the highest and lowest levels of total P were observed in Mahali Khomein and Talash, respectively. The activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase in root and catalase in leave showed remarkable increase under Pi-deficient conditions. In conclusion, Mahali Khomein and Talash were the most and the least Pi-deficient tolerant cultivars, respectively.