Many experiments have been carried out to alleviate the negative effect of drought stress and to obtain suitable growth under water deficient condition. Application of plant growth regulators (especially growth retardants) is one of the proposed methods. In a greenhouse experiment using a completely randomized block design with 4 replications at Kerman University Agricultural Department, the effect of 4 drought levels 25, 45, 65, 85 percent of field capacity and 3 different concentrations of chlormequat chloride 0, 1500, and 3000 mg/liter on some factors of winter barley cultivar Valfajr was investigated. Results indicated that increasing the cycocel concentration from 0 to 3000 milligram per liter leads to significant decrease in plant height. Relative water content affected by growth retardants was increased. Numbers of tillers and root and shoot dry weight, were also decreased because of applying cycocel in dry condition. The result also indicated that the root/shoot dry weight ratio, grain number per ear and ear number in dry condition without stress would increase using cycocel treatment.

Keywords: Drought stress, Chlormequat chloride, Grain yield, Plant growth regulators.

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