Effect of salt stress on yield and yield components in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. cv. Azad)

Abstract

Introduction One of the important abiotic stresses is salinity, with adverse effects on yield and product quality. Salinity damages to plants through ionic and osmotic stress are reflected in loss of water content, specific toxicity effect of ions, and disruption in nutrients uptake. Soil salinity can be raised by irrigation, inappropriate drainage, sea advancement to coastal regions and accumulation of salts in desert and semi-desert regions. Salinity is a limiting factor for plant growth because it limits the feeding of the plants by reduction the uptake of P, K, nitrate and Ca and increasing inter-cellular ion concentration and osmotic stress. In addition to its adverse impacts on the yield and yield components of crops, salinity affects most processes involved in the growth and development of the plants too. Materials & Methods The present study was conducted in research greenhouse of Department of Agriculture, Birjand University on the basis of a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. The soil salinity treatments included five levels of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 dSm-1. Soil texture was loam-sandy with the pH of 8.09 and EC of 1 dSm-1. The irrigation water was filtered with EC7 dS m-1.

Keywords

• grain yield
• leaf area
• plant height
• soil salinity
• total dry weight