Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
To investigate the response of extremely hard seeds of Prosopis species from Fabaceae family in germination phase and growth seedling under saline stress, a factorial experiment (ABC) was conducted on the basis of Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications at Seed technology laboratory of Collage of Agriculture, Shahed University. Salicylic acid Hormone at three levels (0, 0.3 and 0.6 mM) and salinity stress (NaCl) at four levels (0, 5, 10 and 15ds.m-1) were applied to study seed germination of Prosopis under scarification treatments. The results of the study showed that salinity had no significant effects (P≤0.05) on germination rate which indicates high salt tolerance of the species. No seed germination was recorded for Pods and seeds cultivated under no scratch treatment. Proline, protein and carbohydrates content were highest in the treatment of 0.3 mM salicylic acid, 10 ds.m-1 salinity and broken pods containing scratched seeds. Generally speaking, the results showed that Prosopis seedling needs to get rid of physical barriers and inhibitory components within pod and seed coat in order to obtain high seed germination. Moreover, salinity tolerance of this plant was 15 ds.m-1 considered as one of the most important legume species which stabilizes nitrogen in desert and semi- desert regions for combat desertification.
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