Effect of salt stress on physiology and agronomy characterstic of barley cultivars

Abstract

In most northwest provinces of Iran such as West Azarbaijan province, soil salinity is a growing problem, particularly in irrigated agricultural areas, and has been found to reduce barley yield, dramatically. To investigate the effect of sodium chloride on two barley (Hordeum vulgare) cultivars, four levels of salinity: 0, 4, 8 and 12 dS/m, were employed as a factorial experiment arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications in a controlled environment of the greenhouse during 2017-2018. The results indicated that increasing salinity from 0 to 12 dS/m, decreased the emergence percentage significantly. Two cultivars of Zarjoo and Valfajr responded differently to salinity, so that Zarjoo showed a significantly higher emergence rate. This cultivar also had greater shoot potassium content. Number of tillers and leaves per plant and, also, plant height were decreased upon increasing salinity level. The shoot sodium content was, also increased by increasing the salinity level in both cultivars. However, sodium content of Zarjoo in comparison with Valfajr, was lower, probably due to Na⁺ exclusion mechanisms in this cultivar. The highest grain number and phytomass was obtained from Zarjoo at the lowest salinity level. Phytomass and grain yield were, also significantly decreased as the result of salinity. Less adverse effect of salinity on Zarjoo indicates that this cultivar might be suitable for saline soils, an object which worth more investigation.