Effects of salinity stress on some physiologic characteristics of dill, Anethum graveolens L.

In order to study the effect of NaCl salinity on some phisiological characteristics and accumulation of some mineral and organic matters in dill plant, Anethum graveolens L., a completely randomized design was arranged with five salinity levels (0, 5, 50, 75 and 00 mM NaCl) with four replications. Seeds culturing was done in greenhouse and plants irrigated by Hoagland nutrition solution. Total dry weight, stem length, leaf area, total leaf chlorophyll, total soluble sugars and Na+, K+ and Cl- were measured at the final leaf growth stage. Results showed that total chlorophyll, dry weight, K+ in leaves, leaf area, and stem length significantly decreased with increasing salinity levels, while total soluble sugars increased. In addition, the significant increase of Na+ and Cl- accumulation in the leaves, particularly at high salinity levels caused nutrient deficiency and ionic toxicity. The sugar accumulation at high salinity levels showed their importance in osmoregulation.