The seedling shoots were cut, kept separately in paper bags and dried in an electric oven
maintained at 80˚C temperature for 24 h as described by Chhetri [31]. After drying, the shoot dry weights were
recorded by an electric balance. In order to obtain the seedling growth rate (gram per plant) the total weight of
dry seedlings per roll of germination paper towels was divided by total number of normal seedlings as described
by International Seed Testing Association [29] Seedling Evaluation Handbook