No abstract

In order to investigate the effects of salinity on the early seedling growth of chickpea, four chickpea cultivars, Jam, Hashem (kabuli type: large seeded genotypes with light salmon colour), Kaka and Pirooz (desi type: small seeded genotypes with different colours), were grown in pots containing soils with 0.9 (control), 2.6 and 4.9 dSm -1 salinity. The shoot/root ratio of Pirooz was consistently reduced by increasing salinity at all sampling stages. Under saline conditions, the reduction in seedling growth, shoot water content, root and shoot K + concentration and the increase in root and shoot Na + concentration were more severe in the kabuli type than in desi type cultivars. Considering path coefficients, increasing seedling K + concentration and uptake of water from the soil favoured salt-stressed seedling growth. Increasing K + content alleviated the deleterious effects of root Na + to a greater extent than that of shoot Na + . On the other hand, a higher percentage of the decrease in seedling growth as the result of Na + was due to shoot K + deficiency than to root K + deficiency.

No abstract