Seedling Growth of Cassia tora, Cassia occidentalis and Cassia sophera in Relation to Salinity and pH

Abstract

Abstract:The paper aimed to investigate the growth of seedlings of three species of Cassia (C. tora, C. sophera and C. occidentalis) at different concentrations of salinity (NaCl) and pH treatments. All the species showed the highest seedling length under control condition, and with the increase of salinity, C. occidentalis showed the highest sensitivity. The seedling length of C. tora at 0.05 M NaCl significantly (P = 0.05) decreased to 5.71 cm, and further increase of salinity to 0.1 M, the seedling length was decreased to less than the value of 0.05 M NaCl treatment and one-third (2.15 cm) of that of control (6.92 cm). Seeds of all the species failed to germinate at 0.5 M NaCl. Scarified seeds of C. sophera and C. occidentalis increased seedling length. The highest seedling length was in C. sophera, followed by C. tora and C. occidentalis. All the species showed significant decrease (P < 0.05) of fresh weight with the increase of salinity; scarification of seeds in C. occidentalis and C. sophera showed higher fresh weight than those of without scarification. Experiments at different pH levels did not show any significant (P = 0.05) change in seedling length, except C. sophera, while at acidic pH, both seedling length and dry weight were significantly (P < 0.05) decreased.