Table 2. Effect of seed priming with PEG and soil moisture stress on leaf, root, and stem RWC in sorghum seedlings.^a .

		RWC (%)
		12 DAP			24 DAP
ST b	SMT	Leaf	Root	Stem	Leaf	Root	Stem
Unprimed	Unstressed control	87.6	84.6	81.1	86.6	82.3	79.3
	Drought	73.1	69.1	68.3	75.3	73.3	72.3
	EM	78.1	75.1	74.6	79.6	77.3	73.3
	Drought -EM	81.3	77.3	76.6	82.3	79.1	77.6
	EM-drought	80.2	76.2	75.5	80.6	78.1	75.5
Primed	Unstressed control	89.2	87.2	83.2	88.5	84.2	82.1
	Drought	81.6	79.6	79.5	83.3	77.3	76.2
	EM	84.2	81.2	78.8	85.9	82.2	79.2
	Drought -EM	85.1	80.1	80.3	86.2	82.3	80.2
	EM-drought	86.2	82.2	79.4	86.0	80.5	80.3
	LSD0.05	4.7	4.4	5.0	4.0	4.5	3.7
ST F-value		37.3*	43.1*	32.7*	35.1*	16.2*	38.5*
SMT F-value		16.0*	18.0*	9.2*	9.4*	9.8*	11.7*
ST× SMT F-value		1.6 ns	2.6 ns	3.2*	1.1 ns	0.4 ns	0.9 ns

Numbers represent F-values at 0.05 probability level

*, ns Significant and non-significant at 0.05 probability level

^aSeeds were primed with 20% (w/v) PEG 8000 at 18°C for 24 h. The unprimed and primed sorghum seeds were germinated under unstressed soil moisture environment (Unstressed control), drought, EM, 8 d drought stress followed by EM, and 8 d EM followed by drought stress, respectively.

^bAbbreviations: DAP, days after planting; EM, excessive soil moisture; LSD, least significant difference; PEG, polyethylene glycol; RWC, relative water content; ST, seed treatment; SMT, soil moisture treatment