1Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut-250110 (U.P.), India Email: rajatbio007@gmail.com
2Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut-250110 (U.P.), India
3Department of Soil Science, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut-250110 (U.P.), India
*Corresponding author. Email: mukeshbt06@gmail.com
Online published on 28 December, 2017.
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a salt sensitive leguminous crop species, but some genetic variation for salinity tolerance exists. The present study was initiated to determine the degree of salt tolerance among chickpea genotypes, and the relationship between salt tolerance and ion accumulation in leaves. The experiment was conducted in pots, in which 15 genotypes of chickpea were subjected to 0, 40 or 60mM NaCl added to the soil to determine the variation in salt tolerance. Leaves were taken as sample in the vegetative phase to measure the concentrations of sodium, potassium and K+/Na+ ratio. The results showed substantial effects of salinity on chickpea growth and ion content. The plant K+ content and K+/Na+ ratio were lowered in the shoot and root of cultivars tested, but Na+ content increased under saline conditions. CSG 8962 showed high levels of tolerance compared for the other cultivars. The results suggest that chickpea cultivars tolerant of salinity have better growth potential than do sensitive ones.
Salinity, Salt sensitivity, NaCl, and Ion content
