The influences of different salinity levels on germination performance of golden berry, (Physalis peruviana L.) seeds

Abstract

Salinity is one of the major limitations for plant growth and productivity nearly in all over the world. Although a lot of researchers have reported that, plants are sensitive to high salinity during germination and the seedling stage a few studies have compared the effects of various salinity sources on the germination of plants. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different NaCl and CaCl₂ levels on germination of some golden berry genotypes from Turkey. Seeds of four advanced golden berry lines were used. The concentrations of salt solutions were 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 mM (millimolar) and distilled water served as control. Germination percentage (%), time to reach 50% germination (days), shoot length (cm) and seedling fresh weights (mg) were measured on 25th. day after sowing. The lines showed different responses to NaCl and CaCl₂ levels. The 12.67% of Line 1 seeds germinated in the 250 mM CaCl₂ but any germination has not been observed in the 250 mM NaCl. Increased salinity levels resulted in decreased germination, inhibition of seedling growth and increased mean germination time. The 50% of the Line 4 seeds were germinated at 4th. days after sowing in the control treatment whereas 12 days were needed for the same ratio of germination in the 250 mM CaCl₂ treatment. According to all results of experiments, ˜Line 4 and ˜Line 7 appeared more tolerant to salt stress than the other two lines.