Salinity Tolerance Evaluation of Pomegranate Cultivars at Early Growth Stage

Information on the salinity tolerance behaviour of pomegranate in Punjab is very limited. Keeping this in view, the performance of six pomegranate cultivars was evaluated at Regional Research Station, Abohar during 2020 and 2021. About three months old, rooted cuttings were subjected to 3.0dS m^-1 conductivity water for 180 days in a pot culture experiment. The subordinate function analysis suggests the following order of salinity tolerance: Bhagwa>Mridula>Wonderful>Jalore Seedless>Ganesh-137>Phule Arakata. Categorial principal component analysis revealed the effectiveness of tolerant cultivars (Bhagwa, Mridula and Wonderful) in checking the translocation of toxic ions from roots to the leaves. These cultivars had maintained higher photosynthetic rate and superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzymatic activities. The most tolerant cultivars i.e. Bhagwa also exhibited significantly higher leaf Ca content and leaf area index than others. Nonetheless, wide variations in the adaptation strategies among cultivars were witnessed.