Greengram (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) is the third most important pulse crop. One of the main factors limiting its production and productivity is drought, in different growth stages of the crop. ...Drought stress at the seedling stage of greengram influences their adaptation at the early crop establishment phase. In this study, 200 pre-breeding lines derived from VBN(Gg) 2 X Vigna radiata var.sublobata/2 of greengram were evaluated for drought stress by in vitro screening, using Poly ethylene glycol (PEG 6000) at -0.5MPa stress level. Significant differences were observed among the genotypes, treatments and interactions for the evaluated seedling traits and stress indices, suggesting a high variability for drought tolerance in pre- breeding lines. A total of eleven tolerant and six susceptible lines were selected based on seedling vigour index, > 900.00 and < 220.00, respectively during initial screening and independent confirmation screening was carried out. The results of the present study revealed that the pre-breeding lines viz., GGISC 45, GGISC 41, GGISC 132, GGISC 125, GGISC 116, GGISC 55, GGISC 147, GGISC 17, GGISC 73, GGISC 49 and GGISC 37 were recorded with high seedling vigour index along with significant stress indices and identified as tolerant for drought. These identified tolerant lines can be further evaluated under rain-out shelter to assess their ability to withstand drought. Subsequently, the promising lines can be used for the development of drought tolerant varieties in greengram.
