Influence of Different Levels of Salinity Stress on Germination and Growth Attributes of Sorghum Cultivars

Salinity stress is a major environmental constrain now a day that is considerably reducing the agricultural production. This study was planned to determine the impact of different levels of salinity stress on the germination and growth attributes of different sorghum cultivars. The experiment comprised of four different levels of salinity stress i.e., T1= 0 mM NaCl, T2= 40 mM NaCl, T3= 80 mM NaCl and T4=120 mM NaCl and five sorghum cultivars i.e., C1=JS-263 C2=Hagari, C3= JS-2002, C4=Jawar-2011 and C5=YS-2016. The results revealed that salinity levels significantly reduced the germination and growth attributes, while the tested cultivars also had the differential response towards the salinity tolerance. As regard the salinity stress minimum T50, maximum germination percentage, root and shoot growth were recorded without salinity stress, whereas the maximum T50, lowest germination percentage and substantial reduction in root and shoot growth were recorded with 120 mM NaCl solution. Similarly, cultivar JS-263 performed superiorly in terms of germination, root and shoot growth, followed by Jawar-2016, whereas cultivar JS-2002 performed poorly among the tested cultivars. These results suggested that salinity stress considerably reduced the germination and root and shoot growth of seedlings, in addition, cultivar JS-263 was characterized as more salt tolerant as compared to the other tested cultivars