SEEDLING PARAMETERS AS AFFECTED SEED PRIMING OF SOME COTTON CULTIVARS <i>Gossypium barbadense</i>, L. UNDER SALINITY STRESS

A.A. KANDIL¹, A.E. SHARIEF², M.H.S. AHMED^3
1AgronomyDepartment, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
²AgronomyDepartment, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
³Central Administration for Seed Certification (CASC), Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.

Received : 07-01-2015     Accepted : 03-02-2015     Published : 03-03-2015
Volume : 4     Issue : 1       Pages : 116 - 124
World Res J Agron 4.1 (2015):116-124

Keywords : Cotton cultivars, salinity levels, priming, seedling parameters
Conflict of Interest : None declared

To study the effect of priming and non-priming seed of some cotton cultivars i.e. Giza 45, Giza 86, and Giza 90 under different salinity concentrations i.e. 0, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 mM NaCl on early seedling parameters, a laboratory experiment was conducted at Giza Central Seed Testing Laboratory of Central Administration for Seed Certification (CASC), Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. Seedling parameters i.e. shoot and root lengths, shoot and root fresh weights, shoot and root dry weights, seedling height reduction and relative dry weight were determined. The results directed that primed seed of Giza 90 cultivar surpassed primed seed of Giza 45 and Giza 86 cultivars in root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, root dry weight, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight. Giza 86 or Giza 90 surpassed Giza 45 in seedling height reduction and relative dry weight. Cumulative salinity levels from 0 to 240 mM NaCl significantly decreased all studied characters, except seedling height reduction percentage which was increased. The uppermost averages of studied characters were obtained from seed priming under the control treatment of salinity, while the lowest averages of these characters were produced from non-priming under highest salinity level (240 mM NaCl). Shoot and root lengths, shoot and root fresh weight, root dry weight, seedling height reduction and relative dry weight significantly affected by the interaction between seed priming of studied cultivars. Shoot and root lengths, shoot and root fresh weights, root dry weight, seedling height reduction and relative dry weight significantly affected by the interaction between studied cultivars and salinity concentrations. Shoot and root lengths, root fresh weight, shoot and root dry weights, seedling height reduction and relative dry weight significantly affected by the interaction among seed priming, studied cultivars and salinity concentrations. It could be summarized that priming seeds of Giza 90 or Giza 86 cultivars recorded highest seedling parameter under salinity stress which must be put in breeding program for improving cotton production under newly soil conditions.