INFLUENCE OF SALINITY STRESS ON GERMINATION AND EARLY SEEDLING GROWTH OF CORIANDER (Coriandrum sativum L.) CULTIVARS

Gagandeep Kaur; Ashok Kumar

Volume : V, Issue : X, October - 2016

INFLUENCE OF SALINITY STRESS ON GERMINATION AND EARLY SEEDLING GROWTH OF CORIANDER (Coriandrum sativum L.) CULTIVARS

Gagandeep Kaur, Ashok Kumar

Abstract :

The present study was carried out to investigate salinity tolerance of three cultivars of coriander (PD–21, Pant–Haritima and Kalmi) on the basis of seed germination and seedling growth. Salinity is an important land degradation problem for limiting plant growth and agriculture productivity in many areas of the world. The seedlings were raised in plastic pots filled with sand at the room temperature. These plastic pots were treated with NaCl solutions of different concentration viz. 25, 50, 75 and 100 mM. Distilled water served as control. All sets were managed in triplicates. Seed germination, shoot/root length, fresh and dry weights of shoot and root and total seedling dry weights were determined as growth parameters. The rate of seed germination decreased in all cultivars with increasing levels of salinity from 25 to 100 mM. The analyzed data showed that P.D–21 and Kalmi were found to be highly salt tolerant and moderately salt tolerant respectively in term of germination %, shoot/root length, fresh weight of shoot/root and dry weight of shoot and root with respect to salinity. Conversely, Pant Haritma was sensitive to salinity in terms of the above parameters studied.