RESPONSE OF GERMINATION CHARACTERS OF SOME SESAME CULTIVARS TO SALINITY CONCENTRATIONS

A.A. KANDIL¹, A.E. SHARIEF², A.A. SAYED^3
1Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
²Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
³Central Administration for Seed Certification, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.

Received : 06-11-2014     Accepted : 03-12-2014     Published : 09-12-2014
Volume : 3     Issue : 2       Pages : 102 - 107
World Res J Agron 3.2 (2014):102-107

Keywords : Sesame cultivars, salinity levels, final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigour index
Academic Editor : Saleh El-Sayed El-Sayed Seadh
Conflict of Interest : None declared

In order to investigate the effects of osmotic stress on sesame cultivars i.e. Shandaweel 3, Giza 32, Toshka 1 and Sohag 1 at critical stage of germination to salinity concentrations i.e. 0, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 20 dSm-1 NaCl, a study was conducted at Giza Central Seed Testing Laboratory of Central Administration for Seed Certification (CASC), Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. Germination characters i.e. final germination percentage, germination rate, index of germination, germination energy and seedling vigour index were estimated. Results showed that Toshka 1 cultivar surpassed other cultivars in all of the studied characters followed by Shandaweel 3 cultivar, which came in the second rank. Increasing salinity levels from 0 to 20 dSm-1 significantly decreased final germination percentage, germination rate, germination index, energy of germination and seedling vigor index. The highest averages of studied characters were obtained at the control treatment, while the lowest averages of these characters were produced under highest salinity level 20 dSm-1. Results also clearly showed that final percentage of germination, germination index, germination energy and seedling vigor index significantly affected by the interaction between sesame cultivars and salinity concentrations. It could be concluded that Toshka 1 or Shandaweel 3 cultivars were more tolerant to salinity stress, which must be put in breeding program of sesame under salinity conditions.