Assessment of the tolerance of various cultivars of

barley towards salinity stress in germination and early

growth stages

Saba Talebe Hagh

1,2

, Hossein Shahbazi

1, 2

* and Marefat Ghasemi

3

1

Department of Agronomy, Ardabil Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran

2

Department of Agronomy, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran

three replications. The  rst factor included twelve cultivars of barley including Afzal, Nosrat, Valfajr, Kavir, Yousef,

Torsh, Sahra, Nimruz, Zehek, Dasht, Bahman and Reyhan 2. The second factor included four levels of salinity of with-

out stress and salinity stresses of 6, 12 and 18 Decisiemens per meter (dS/m). The  rst experiment was carried out in

Petri dishes and characteristics related to germination (including velocity of germination and seedling characteristics)

were recorded. In the second experiment, the velocity and percentage of seedling emergence of barley were measured.

in weight per hundred seeds, length of coleoptile and percentage of emergence.

KEY WORDS: SALINITY STRESS, BARLEY, ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY, GERMINATION PERCENTAGE

24

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

INTRODUCTION

rate of salts in the soil or irrigation water confronts the

plant with salinity stress. The saline soils area in Iran

is 25 million hectares which is increasing due to the

weak management in irrigation (Pakniat et al., 2003).

nation speed and early growth of barley decrease under

conditions of germination, emergence and early growth

of twelve barley cultivars under salinity stress.

this experiment was carried out in order to study the

impact of sodium chloride salinity on germination and

determining threshold of salt tolerance in a number of

commercial barley cultivars for identi cation and intro-

inevitable.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

ment was carried out was cold semi-arid and the soil in

the region was clay loam soils which is poor is organic

materials.

EXPERIMENT DESIGN

This research was conducted in 2 factorial designs in

completely randomized design with three replications.

The  rst factor included twelve cultivars of barley

seedling characteristics) were recorded. In the second

experiment, the velocity and percentage of seedling

emergence of barley were measured. In this experiment,

in order to control the electrical conductivity of water, a

saucer was put under each pot so that the water salinity

could be measured and the uniformity of salinity dur-

ing the experiment could be controlled. The seeds were

planted in 5-liter plastic pots which were  lled with

1:1:1 of sand, agricultural soil and Well-rotted washed

(Table 1).

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

MEASURED CHARACTERISTICS

According to Almadras (1998),  nal germination per-

centage (FGP) is calculated through dividing germinated

seeds on the total number of seeds and through the fol-

lowing formula:

centage of the number of germinated seeds per day dur-

ing the experiment. Germination rate index is calculated

through the following formula:

for each pot.

through the following formula:

culated through dividing the number of emerged seeds

(EN) on the total number of planted seeds (TN). Notetak-

ing and observation were carried out  fteen days after

planting the seeds.

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

of Kaya et al. (2006).

Results from Mohammadi et al. (2011) suggested

that the effect of salinity, genotypes and their interac-

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

due to the weakness of coleoptile, the seedling is not

established well.

cant difference found between the mean of emergence of

percentage in the bushes in the pots. Tis is due to the fact

that by the  rst irrigation, the salinity treatment had not

reached the targeted limit. The emergence capacity of the

seeds, especially in undesirable conditions such as farms,

salinity concentrations, decrease in osmatic potentials is

a limiting factor for germination and emergence. How-

ever, in high salinity concentrations

lowest mean was at 18 dS/m level, which has decreased

in this level. Plants from vigorous seeds have a higher

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

COMPARISON OF MEANS OF CULTIVARS

BASED ON GERMINATION CHARACTERISTICS

As it could be observed from Table 4, in without stress

level, cultivars of Dasht, Bahman, Nosrat, Sahra, Val-

Afzal had the lowest rate of the characteristics and other

cultivars with common letter of A did not show any sig-

ni cant difference. In salinity stress level of 18 dS/m

(Table 7), cultivars of Afzal, Nosrat and Kavir had the

lowest rate of the characteristics and other cultivars with

common letter of A did not show any signi cant differ-

ence. Results from Mohammadi et al. (2011) showed that

the genotypes showed a signi cant difference at one

(Table 5), cultivars of Dasht, Zahak and Nosrat with

common letter of A were in the  rst group and had the

highest rate of the characteristics. In salinity stress level

of 12 dS/m (Table 6), all 12 cultivars with common letter

of A did not show any signi cant difference. In salin-

ity stress level of 18 dS/m (Table 7), cultivars of Dasht,

Valfajr and Afzal with common letter of A did not show

any signi cant difference.

As it could be observed from Table 4, in without stress

the characteristics. In salinity stress level of 18 dS/m

(Table 7), cultivars of Valfajr, Dasht, Yousef, Sahra, Bah-

the highest rate of the characteristics. Decrease in germi-

nation could be due to the osmatic effects or the toxicity

words, decrease or delay in emergence of seedling might

Yousef and Zahak, with common letter of A were in the

 rst group and had the highest rate of the characteris-

tics. In salinity stress level of 6 dS/m (Table 5), all cul-

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

 rst group. In salinity stress level of 6 dS/m (Table 5),

except for cultivars of Dasht, Bahman and Torsh, all

other cultivars with common letter of A were in the  rst

group and had the highest rate of the characteristics.

In salinity stress level of 12 dS/m (Table 6), except for

cultivar Reyhan 2, all other cultivars with common let-

level, all cultivars, except for cultivar of Zahak, had

common letter of A and were in the  rst group. Also,

in salinity stress level of 6 dS/m (Table 5), all cultivars,

letter of A and were in the  rst group. However, cul-

tivars of Reyhan 2, Dasht and Afzal were in the  rst

tivars ofZahak, Afzal, Kavir, Nosrat, Dasht, Yousef and

Nimruz had the highest and cultivars of Sahra, Reyhan

and Torsh had the lowest rate of length of coleoptile.

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi

signi cant difference was found between all the stress

levels. While showing the negative effect of salinity

on the seedling emergence percentage, Taddayon and

Emam (2007) reported the highest and lowest seedling

emergence percentage in cultivars of Reyhan and Afzal.

As it could be observed from Table 4, in without stress

level, all cultivars, had common letter of A and there

highest rate of decrease in emergence and velocity of

emergence in the seedling under salinity stress was in

the cultivar of Shirin, while the lowest rate of decrease

in emergence and velocity of emergence in the seed-

ling under salinity stress were in cultivars of Nosrat and

was found among them.

CONCLUSION

ence between cultivars in measured characteristics show

Hagh, Shahbazi and Ghasemi