The effect of drought stress on germination behavior of Artemisia sieberi Besser

Artemisia sieberi a permanent wooden plant expands in arid margins. It is a resistance plant to aridity in dry land and desert margins، which plays an important role in preservation and keeping soil. The aim of this research was assessing effect of drought stress on germination behavior of Artemisia sieberi. To pass the dormant period، seeds were pre-chilled for 9 days at zero to 50 C. Germination in a petri dish with two experiments under the effects of A: drought stress treatment carried out at drought levels of zero (Control)، -2، -4 and -6 Bars using PEG solution and B: a 12-hour alternate light and dark and 24 hours dark treatments were tested in a complete randomized factorial design، was used to analyze results SAS statistical software. Results indicated that an increase of drought level leads to a decrease in the percentage and rate of germination، plumule length، and allometry factor priority 45 and 25 %، 0. 6 Cm and 0. 13 toward cotrol. But radicle length than the other traits measured by less sensitive to drought stress had a significant level is 5 percent، So that with increasing stress up to -6 bars radicle length increases and then decreases.