Seed Pre-soaking on Gibberellic Acid (GA3) Enhance Growth, Histological and Physiological Traits of Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris L) under Water Stress

THE PRESENT study aimed to evaluate the effect of three levels of gibberellic acid solutions (50, 100 and 150 mg/L) on two sugar beet cultivars. (Farida and Sultan) under three field capacity (50 , 75 and 100%). This experiment was carried out at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, during the two growing successive seasons of 2013/14 and 2014/15. Results showed that all GA3 tested treatments statistically improved growth parameters, i.e., number of leaves, fresh and dry weights of leaves/plant, as well as, root yield, sucrose%, photosynthetic pigments (chlorophylls a, b and carotenoids), relative water content (RWC), leaf osmotic pressure (LOP) and the studied anatomical characters (thickness of mysophyll, thickness of midrib, thickness of palisade tissue, thickness of spongy tissue, average number of xylem vessels/vascular bundle, thickness of vascular bundle, thickness of collenchaymatous tissue and upper epidermis). Conclusively, this study indicates that, soaking seeds in GA3 solutions especially at 150 mg/L can decrease the effects of drought on growth and yield of sugar beet.