Effects of Salinity Stress and Drought Due to Different Concentrations of Sodium Chloride and Polyethylene Glycol 6000 on Germination and Seedling Growth Characteristics of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Poor establishment and lack of seedling germination due to lack of adequate water and or salinity are the main problems of producing crops in country of Iran. In order to study the effect of drought and salinity stress on growth and germination characteristics of chickpea seedlings (including khoy and chaipareh local masses), two separate factorial experiments based on completely randomized design with three replications was conducted in Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of West Azarbaijan Province in 2013. Drought and salinity stress treatments were including different levels of osmotic potential of sodium chloride and polyethylene glycol 6000 in three levels of -4, -8, -12 bar and control treatment (distilled water). The results revealed that applying different levels of drought and salinity stress had significant decreasing effects on most of the measured parameters such as the percentage and rate of germination, radicle length, plumule length, radicle length to plumule length ratio, and seedling fresh weight. The mean comparison showed that in drought stress and in all parameters except the radicle length to plumule length ratio and plumule fresh weight, the decreasing effects were significant between control and -4 bar treatment. In relation to salinity stress, except the germination percentage, the radicle length to plumule length ratio, the radicle length, and seedling fresh weight, the decreasing effects were significant in other parameters. Meanwhile, group comparison of inhibitory effects of salinity and drought stress indicated no significant differences between stresses in studied traits

کلیدواژه ها:

stress ، chickpea ، drought ، salinity ، germination