SALT TOLERANCE OF SOME AGRICULTURE CROPS DURING EARLY GROWTH STAGES

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to study the salt tolerance of some agricultural crops during early growth stages. A comparison of wheat and sunflower plants was carried out with respect to their salt tolerance and nutrient uptake. Two experiments were performed to achieve these purposes.

Germination experiment: The germination experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different concentrations of salts i.e. NaCl, Na2 S04 and seawater on germination rate (G.R), germination percent (G.P) and germination strength (G.S) of wheat grains and sunflower seeds soaked in different concentrations of proline amino acid (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg/1) in sand culture technique. The tested salts were 0, 5, I 0, 15 and 20 dS/m. Seawater (having 53 dS/m) was diluted to obtain the mentioned concentrations. The results obtained could be summarized as follows: - Increasing salinity levels (NaCl, Na2 S04 and diluted seawater up to 20 dS/m) gradually decreased the germination rate of wheat and sunflowea, NaCl being more effective in this respect. - The germination rates of sunflower seeds were higher than that of wheat grains at different levels of salinity. - The germination rate of both grains and seeds soaked in polutions containing different levels of proline amino acid was higher, compared the those that were notsoaked.