2003. Effect of growth regulators and osmotica in alleviating salinity effects on the germination of Salicornia utahensis

Salicornia utahensis Tiderstrom is a perennial halophyte from the family Chenopodiaceae and is widely distributed in brackish water playas of northern Utah. Salicornia utahensis produces seeds under high salinity and deposits its seed on saline soil. Seeds showed only 65 % germination in distilled water. Seed germination decreased with the increase in salinity and less than 5 % seeds germinated at 900 mM NaCl. We determined the role of germination regulating chemicals in alleviating salinity stress. This germination was substantially enhanced with the inclusion of ethephon, fusicoccin (FC), and kinetin, under saline conditions while gibberellic acid, thiourea, proline and betaine had little effect. Rate of germination showed a similar pattern with that of percentage germination