International E-publication: Publish Projects, Dissertation, Theses, Books, Souvenir, Conference Proceeding with ISBN.  International E-Bulletin: Information/News regarding: Academics and Research

Salt Tolerance of Sorghum bicolor Cultivars during Germination and Seedling Growth

    , , ,

Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Botany, KGK PG College, Moradabad-244001, UP, INDIA
  • 2 Plant Physiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Hindu College Moradabad-244001, UP, INDIA

Res. J. Recent Sci., Volume 1, Issue (3), Pages 1-10, March,2 (2012)

Abstract

Sorghum is rated as moderately salt tolerant and can produce profitable crops on saline soils. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of salinity on the germination and emergence of sorghum cultivars, and to investigate the potential for genetic salt tolerance during the germination and early vegetative growth. Seeds of 13 sorghum cultivars were germinated using U.S.S. lab staff saline solution at 5 different salt concentrations for 10 days. Germination percentage, root and shoot length, seedling dry weight, root/shoot dry weight ratio, and total dry weight salt susceptibility index were investigated in this study. The germination results revealed that the increasing salt concentrations decreased germination and seedling growth in all the cultivars. The extent of decrease varied with cultivars and salt concentrations. All cultivars germinated in all salinities but at 10 and 12 EC level of salinity, the highest and lowest germination percentage was obtained for CSV-15 and PANT-1cultivars respectively. It is found that salt stress significantly decreased root length, shoot length, and seedling dry weight of sorghum cultivars. In the presence of high salt concentration (10 and 12 EC), CSV-15 and HC-171 cultivars showed the greatest shoot length, root length, and total dry weight. At the first development stage, the shoot growth of sorghum cultivar was more adversely affected compared to the root growth by salt stress. Statistical analysis showed substantial intra-specific variation in salinity tolerance. On the basis of germination percentage, total dry weight reduction, root and shoot length reduction, and salt susceptibility indices at 7.2, 10, and 12 EC levels of salinity only three sorghum cultivars (CSV-15, HD-19, and HC-171) out of thirteen were classified as salt tolerant. On the other hand sensitivity against salinity was observed in PANT-1, PANT-2, HC-308, HC-513, and HC-260 and so, these are grouped under salt sensitive group. Based on the results of the experiment, CSV-15, HD-19 and HC-171 can be useful as genetic resources for the development of sorghum cultivars with improved germination under salt stress.

References

  1. Jordan W.R. Dugass Jr. W.A. Shouse P.J., Strategies for crop improvement for drought and prone regions, Agricultural Water Management, 7, 281-299, (1983)
  2. FAO, Global network on integrated soil management for sustainable use of salt affected soils, Rome, Italy: FAO Land and Plant Nutrition Management Service, (2005)
  3. Munns R., Physiological processes limiting plant growth in saline soils: Some dogmas and hypotheses, Plant Cell Environ., 16, 15-24, (1993)
  4. Munns R., Comparative physiology of salt and water stress, Plant Cell Environ., 25, 239–250, (2002)
  5. Neumann P., Salinity resistance and plant growth revisited, Plant Cell Environ., 20, 239-250, (1997)
  6. Yeo A. R., Molecular biology of salt tolerance in the context of whole-plant physiology, J. Exp. Bot., 49, 915-925, (1998)
  7. Hasegawa P.M. Baessan R.A. Zhu J.K. and Bohnert H.J., Plant cultivar and molecular responses to high salinity, Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Mol. Biol., 51, 463-499 (2000)
  8. Moreno-Limon S. Maiti R. A. and Foroughbakhch R., Genotypic variability in Phaseolus bean cultivars exposed to salinity at the germination stage, Crop Res., 19, 487-492, (2000)
  9. Bayuelo-Jimenez J.S. Debouck D.G. and Lynch J.P., Salinity tolerance in Phaseolus species during early vegetative growth, Crop Sci., 42, 2148–2192, (2002)
  10. Bernstein N. Laüchli A. and Silk W.K., Kinematics and dynamics of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) leaf development at various Na/Ca salinities: I. Elongation growth, Plant Physiol., 103, 1107 1114, (1993)
  11. Netondo G.W. Onyango J.C. and Beck E., Sorghum and salinity: II Gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence of sorghum under salt stress. Crop Sci., 44, 806-811, (2004)
  12. Niknam S.R. and Mc Comb J., Salt tolerance screening of selected Australian woody species-a review, Forest Ecology and Management, 139, 1-19, (2000)
  13. Bruning J.L. and Kintz B. L., Computational Handbook of Statistics, Scott Foresman and Company, Oakland, N. J., (1977)
  14. Mauromicale G. and Licandro P., Salinity and temperature effects on germination, emergence and seedling growth of globe artichoke, Agronomie, 22, 443–450, (2002)
  15. Jeannette S. Craig R. Lynch J.P., Salinity tolerance of phaseolus species during germination and early seedling growth, Crop Sci., 42, 1584-1594, (2002)
  16. Jamil M. Rha E.S., The effect of salinity (NaCl) on the germination and seedling of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.), Korean J. plant Res., 7, 226-232, (2004)
  17. Finkelstein R.R. and Lynch T., Abscisic acid inhibition of radical emergence but not seedling growth is suppressed by sugars, Plant Physiol., 122, 1179-1186, (2000)
  18. Kirnak H. Kaya C. Ismail T.A.S. and Higgs D., The influence of water deficit on vegetative growth, physiology, fruit yield and quality in eggplants, Bulg. J. Plant Physiol., 27, 34-46, (2001)
  19. Sharma A.D. Thakur M. Rana M. Singh K., Effect of plant growth hormones and abiotic stresses on germination, growth and phosphatase activities in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench seeds. African J. Biotechnol., 3, 308-312, (2004)