The effect of salinity stress on traits related to germination of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Subject Areas : Agroecology Journal

Hadi Salek Mearaji ¹ (Ph.D. Student, Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran)
Afshin Tavakoli ² (2 Associate Professor, Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran. [e-mail])
Soheila Ghanimati ³ (M.Sc. Student, Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran)
Parvin Kasirlou ⁴ (B.Sc graduate, Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran)

Received: 2022-11-23 Accepted : 2022-11-23 Published : 2021-07-23

Keywords:

Abstract :

Salinity is one of the most abiotic stress that caused reduce the yield of crops. Quinoa has importance role in human nutrition and high resistance to salinity stress. In order to investigate the effects of salinity stress on germination characteristics of quinoa cultivar Q26, an experiment was conducted based on complete randomized design (CRD) with four replications under laboratory conditions. The treatments consisted of different levels of sodium chloride (0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 30 and 40 dS/m) as salinity stress. Salinity have undesirable effects on traits study such as germination percentage, germination rate, shoot and root length, shoot and root dry weight, stem-to-root ratio (coefficient of allometry), germination uniformity and time to 50 percent germination. The percentage of germination was not significant between control and 30 dS/m treatment, but at 40 dS/m concentration reduced to 75 percent. With increasing salinity levels, the time required for 50 percent seeds germination increased significantly. Germination rate also reduced by salinity levels, significantly. The shoot- to- root ratio decreased with increasing salinity up to 20 dS/m, but reached the maximum at 30 dS/m. The results showed that quinoa cultivar Q26 has high resistance to salinity stress in germination stage, therefore it can be said that this cultivar has a good resistance to salinity of 30 dS/m of sodium chloride and it can be a favorable cultivar for cultivation in saline conditions after field evaluation and according to appropriate climate conditions.