IMPROVING CROP PERFORMANCE OF SOME SUNFLOWER GENOTYPES GROWN UNDER SALT STRESS CONDITION

Abstract

During two growing seasons, field experiments were conducted at Fayoum Governorate, aimed to evaluate the growth performance, productivity and the physiological attributes in terms of inorganic and organic components for Euroflor, Vidoc and Sakha-53 sunflowers genotypes grown under different levels of saline soils (3.98-6.92-12.54 dS/m). The plants were sprayed using two levels of either Salicylic, Ascorbic or Oxalic acids (antioxidants). Besides, pre-sowing seed germination (Priming) using saline and antioxidant mixtures solutions were tested. The obtained data revealed. Presowing seed treatments improved their germinability, increased germination speed (MTSG). The highly saline soils (12.08 and 12.54 dS/m) reduced the measured growth criteria, plant productivity partially the means ofN, and markedly P, K+, Ca++, Fe, Zn, while a pronounce increases for Ca++, Mg++, Na+ and CC were recorded. Also, the organic plant components including leaf pigmentation, total carbohydrate and seed protein percentage were negatively affected, whereas a marked increase for Proline was detected. Generally, Sakha-53 proved to be the most tolerant among the tested genotypes, withstanding the highest saline soils of 12.08 and 12.54 dS/m in both seasons. Meanwhile, spraying the tested genotypes using 200 ppm, Oxalic acid ameliorated the negative effects of salinity, Ascorbic acid ranked in the second order, while the Salicylic acid was the least, mostly failed to relief saline soil effect. Finally, the most promising result of the present study is the highly oxidative effect of the Oxalic acid, as antioxidant, ameliorating the damage caused by highly saline soils on sunflower growth, yield, seed germination and the plant physiological attributes, where so limited researches and review were found on the use and role of this acid on economical plants.