A study was conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture, An Najah National University, Palestine, during the 2016-2017 growing season to investigate the effects of different salinity levels on the growth and development of eight pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) accessions. Three salinity levels were used (freshwater as control, 75 and 150 mM NaCl), with three replicates. Increasing NaCl concentration resulted in a significant reduction in plant height. Accession IP6104 had the highest plant height, and accession ICMV155 was the shortest (84.05 and 75.60 cm, respectively). The average tiller number was not affected by salinity, while significant differences were observed among accessions on tiller number. Salinity decreased chlorophyll content and SPAD was reduced from 62.04 under the control treatment to 19.41 under 150 mM NaCl. Significant differences were observed in fresh and dry weight of roots and fresh weight of shoots, while dry weight of shoots was not significantly affected. The present study showed that pearl millet can grow under saline conditions. This indicates that this forage crop has good potential for cultivation in areas with high soil salinity.

Title

Pakistan Journal of Botany

Publisher

Pakistan Botanical Society

Publisher Country

Pakistan

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

1.101

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

55

Year

2022

Pages

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