Evaluation of Salt-Tolerance Physiological Indices on Some Provender Plants in Saline Areas

Use of salt-tolerant cultivars is one of the ways to deal with salinity. Therefore، in order to investigate the physiological aspects of salt tolerance، a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications was conducted at the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran in 2010. In this experiment، five fodder plant species collected from saline pasture areas in Iran were evaluated at six different salinity levels (0، 50، 100، 150، 200، and 250 mM). Plants were cultivated in sand culture and were supplied daily by Hoagland solution. Salinity treatments were applied for 21 days at the end of vegetative stage and the shoots were sampled. The results showed that the species Festuca ovina had the highest percentage of fresh and dry weights compared to their control (zero salinity). About RWC، with increasing salinity، four species Hordeum vulgare، Festuca arundinacea، Bromus confines and Agropyron elongatum were able to largely maintain their relative water content (RWC)، while the reduction of RWC in the species F. ovina was maximum (40%) at the salinity level of 250 mM. The results showed that the maximum absorption of sodium was for H. vulgare and then F. arundinacea، A. elongatum، B. confines and F. ovina، respectively. Also، F. ovina had much lower potassium than the other species. Finally، based on fresh and dry weights and osmotic regulation، results showed that H. vulgare was in the first place for salinity tolerance، followed by F. arundinacea، A. elongatum، B. confines، and F. ovina at lower ranks.