Back to Contents

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

INDUCTION OF SALT TOLERANCE IN CHICKPEA BY USING SIMPLE AND SAFE CHEMICALS

NIGHAT SARWAR, SUMAIRA YOUSAF AND FARHAT F. JAMIL

Abstract: Salinity is a common problem in Pakistan, which causes poor development of crops. Studies were conducted to make possible use of waste saline land by treating the seeds with some simple chemicals. Experiments were conducted under controlled and field conditions. Chickpea seeds of variety CM88 were surface sterilized and soaked in water, mannitol (2% & 4%), K₂HPO₄ (0.5% & 0.8%) and KNO₃ (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%) for 24 hours. Treated seeds were sown in pots, where salinity was created with 75ml solution of NaCl, along with three different types of control experiments; non-treated seed in saline soil, non-treated seeds in non saline soil and water treated seed in non-saline soil. It was observed that root length and biomass of roots and shoots were better when treated with water and mannitol. As far as K2HPO4 and KNO3 are concerned, lower concentrations of these chemicals (0.5% K₂HPO₄ and KNO₃) gave comparatively better results than higher concentrations. Chickpea seeds of variety CM98 treated with same chemicals were sown under field conditions, where EC of the soil was 2.99-9.4 at 0-15cm depth, 2.8-10.5 at 15-30cm depth and pH was 7.7-9.5. Priming with mannitol and water improved plant survival and growth up to maturity under saline stress conditions.
 

Plant Protection Division, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), P.O. Box # 128, Jhang road, Faisalabad, Pakistan