Seeds germination and seedling stages were studied on the legume seeds of Vicia angustifolia L. to reveal the effects of drought stress on germination char- acteristics and water absorption characteristics. The results showed that the rate of seed water uptake,germination percentage,germination index,vigor index,seedling height,root length and plant water content decreased with the increase of concen- tration of PEG stress. However,seedling and root dry weight and root/shoot ratio ini- tially increased followed by a decrease. The lowest osmotic potential threshold was -0.42 MPa.
