Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Negin Asadipoor ¹
• Adel Sepehry ²
• S. Ali Hossaini ³

¹ MSc. Student in Range Management, Department of Range and Watershed Management, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

² Professor of Range Management, Department of Range and Watershed Management, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Iran

³ Assistant Professor of Range Management, Scientific Staff of Agriculture and Natural Research Center of Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Salinity stress is regarded as one of the most important factors limiting plant growth and agricultural products, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Regardless to increment in salinity lands and shortage in desirable soils for cultivation in country, recognition of range plants that are salt tolerant is very important. In many plant species sensitivity to NaCl is known to vary amongst growth stages. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different salinity levels on some growth indices (including shoot length, root length, shoot dry mass and number of seeds), in three species of M. scutellata, M. polymorpha and M. rigidula. The experiment was conducted as a factorial based on completely randomized design with 4 replications and six salinity levels (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 dS.m^-1). The results showed that salt stress had a significant effect on estimated parameters and shoot length, root length, seed number and dry weight were reduced by increasing salinity level. Comparison of the means showed that M. scutellatawas the best species amongst all based on the studied characteristics. Results suggest that M. scutellata could be identified as a successful cultivar in breeding programs under saline conditions.

Keywords

• Root length
• salinity
• Seed number
• Shoot length