Evaluation of drought and salt stress during the germination and seedling stages of 21 introduced brown midrib forage sorghum species

Twenty-one species of brown midrib forage Sorghum were used to evaluate drought and salt resistance during germination and seedling stagesusing PEG-6000 and NaCl. The results showed that low concentrations of drought and salt stress could promote the germination rate, root length, bud length, and vigor index of the more resistant materials.Catalase(CAT) cactivity under PEG-6000 and NaCl stress conditions increased during the seedling stage, whereas the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) initially increased and then decreased. BMP12, BMP456, and BMP448 had stronger resistance to drought during both germination and seedling stages than that of the other species. BMP16, BMP12, and BMP453 had stronger resistance to salt during both the germination and seedling stages than that of the other species.