Effects of salinity on germination and early seedling growth of chickpea (Cicerarietinum L.) cultivars

In order to evaluate the effects of NaCl salinity on germination and early seedling growth ofchickpea cultivars, a CRD based factorial experiment with four replications was carried out inAgronomy Lab. of the Universityof Guilan, I. R,Iran.Seven chickpea cultivars (Hashem, Arman, Azad, Jam, Bevanig, ILC482, and Greet) were exposed to six NaCl based saline solution (3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 dS m-1) beside distilled water as control. The rate and percentage germination, root and shoot length, root, shoot and seedling dry weight, root/shoot dry weight ratio were investigated. The results indicate that effect of cultivar × salinity weren’t significant on germination percentage and seedling dry weight. Cultivars and salinity had significant effect on seed germination and seedling dry weight, separately. The highest root and shoot length and shoot dry weight were related to “Arman” and “Bevanij” cultivars, respectively. The highest and lowest value for the root dry weight represented from Hashem and Greet cultivars. It was concluded that genetic variation exists among them in terms of early seedling growth rate under stress condition. In among cultivars, Arman showed higher resistance to increase of salinity.