Growth, Physiological and Biochemical Response of Chickpea Cultivars to Different Levels of Salinity Stress
Growth, Physiological and Biochemical Response of Chickpea Cultivars to Different Levels of Salinity Stress
Muhammad Umer Chattha1, Muhammad Ilyas2, Imran Khan1, Athar Mahmood1, Muhammad Bilal Chattha3*, Ambreen Fatima4, Muhammad Iqbal5, Muhammad Tahir Akbar6, Muhammad Mahmood Iqbal5, Faran Muhammad7, Muhammad Talha Aslam1 and Muhammad Umair Hassan1
ABSTRACT
Salinity stress (SS) is a major environmental constraint that is limiting agricultural productivity across the globe. Therefore, this study aimed at to assess the effect of diverse SS levels on growth, physiological and biochemical traits of chickpea cultivars. The experiment comprised of different levels of salinity stress i.e., 0, 8 and 12 dsm-1 and different chickpea cultivars i.e., NIAB-2016, Bittle-2016 and Bhakar-2011. The maximum time to 50% emergence (T50), and mean emergence time (MET) and minimum germination percentage (GP) and emergence index (EI) was recorded when high level of salt stress (12 dsm-1) was imposed, while minimum, T50, and MET and maximum GGP and EI was observed under control conditions. Cultivar Bhaker-2011 took less, T50, and MET and had maximum GP and EI while cultivar NAIB-2016 took maximum, T50, and MET time and had minimum GP and EI. Likewise, maximum plant height (PH: 68.20 cm), root length (RL: 7.70 cm), shoot length (SL: 16.67 cm), root fresh weight (RFW: 0.45 g) and shoot fresh weight (SFW: 5.22 g) were recorded in control condition while minimum was observed under high salt stress. Cultivars Bhaker-2011 had maximum PH (67.70 cm), SL (14.02 cm), and SFW (5.27 g) while cultivar NIAB-2016 had minimum PH (57.10 cm), SL (14.02 cm), and SFW (4.54 g) among the cultivars. The maximum chlorophyll a and b was recorded under normal conditions while lowest was observed under salt stress. Salty stress increased the Na+ concentration and the activities of SOD, POD and CAT. Moreover, Bhaker-2011 had maximum chlorophyll a, b, and activities of SOD, POD and CAT among the cultivars. In conclusion, Bhaker-2011 appeared as a salt tolerant cultivar that was linked with improved growth, photosynthetic performance and antioxidant activities.
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