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TIME COURSE CHANGES IN IONIC COMPOSITION AND TOTAL SOLUBLE CARBOHYDRATES IN TWO BARLEY CULTIVARS AT SEEDLING STAGE UNDER SALT STRESS

MUHAMMAD SAJID AQEEL AHMAD, QASIM ALI, ROHINA BASHIR, FARRUKH JAVED AND AMBREEN KHADIJA ALVI

Abstract: Seeds of two barley cultivars (i.e. Jou-87 and B-00047) were exposed to two levels of NaCl (150 mol m^-3 and 300 mol m^-3) along with control in petridishes. Salt stress severely affected germination rate and percentage. Early growth parameters including plumule and radical length as well as fresh and dry weights of plumules and radicals were severely reduced by increasing salinity level in the growth medium. Total soluble carbohydrates increased in the plumule however, the reverse was true for radicle. Na⁺ content increased whereas K⁺ and Ca²⁺ content decreased in both plumule and radicle. It was observed that with the passage of time, there was a sharp decline in relative increase in the plumule and radical length. In addition, Na⁺ content increased in both plumule and radicle, whereas K⁺ content increased only in plumule. In contrast Ca²⁺ contents were not much affected with time in both plumule and radicle.

Department of Botany, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, (38040), Pakistan.
Corresponding Author: Muhammad Sajid Aqeel Ahmad; sajidakeel@yahoo.com