Effect of calcium and potassium on improvement of negative effects of salinity on some morphological characteristics in Kochia (Kochia scoparia)

Salt stress is a major environmental problem in arid and semi-arid agriculture. Kochia is a halophyte, which may provids a good source of forage for livestock by using saline water. In order to investigate the salinity effect on some morphological characteristics of kochia, an experiment was conducted with supply of K+ and Ca+2 in green house and hydroponic condition. Two salinity levels including 20 dSm-1 and 40dSm-1 and control (tap water) and KCl (10mM), CaCl2 (10mM) and KCl with CaCl2 (5 mM) using split plot design, based on RCBD allocated in main and sub plot with six replications respectively. Result showed that increasing salinity decreased shoot and root fresh and dry weight, and reduces the green area index, root volume, shoot and root potassium and calcium concentration. Salinity increased Na and ratio of sodium to potassium in shoots and roots. Use of calcium alone increased calcium of shoot and root. Application of calcium with potassium, showed a positive effect on reducing impacts of salinity. The interaction between calcium and potassium with salinity, the use of calcium alone in salt treatment (40dSm-1) reduced the sodium contents of roots. Application of calcium in salinity treatments (20 and 40dSm-1) showed the greatest impact on shoot and root calcium. Also the use of calcium with potassium improved the traits in this study. Generally, based on this results application of K+ with Ca+2 alleviated effect of salinity and improve dry matter production of kochia.