The dehydrogenase activity of the seeds was estimated according to procedure developed by [15] . 25 seeds from each treatment were preconditioned for 6 hours. From that, five embryonic axes were separated and incubated in darkness with 5 ml of 0.1 per cent Tetrazolium Chloride solution in glass vials for 2 hrs at 40 o C. After incubation, the Tetrazolium Chloride solution was decanted and the embryos were thoroughly washed with distilled water and surface dried with blotters. The Formazan was eluted by soaking the stained embryo in 5 ml of methyl cellosolve (2 methoxy ethanol) overnight and the optical density was measured using a Spectrophotometer model at 470 nm and methyl cellosolve alone was used as a blank. The dehydrogenase activity was expressed as optical density.