Effect of NaCl salinity on mineral nutrient uptake in eggplant cultivars

To study the effect of NaCl salinity on the uptake of mineral elements in different organs of eggplant three cultivars including Jahrom landrace، Dezful slim، Indian cottage grown in outdoor conditions، an experiment was performed based on a completely randomized design with 10 replications. Ten days old seedlings equal in height and stem diameter in crown area were transformed into plastic pots containing 9 kg local field soil and irrigated with tap water for 20 days. Seven salinity levels were used with concentrations of 0، 10، 20، 40، 60، 80 and 100 mM NaCl. Different amounts of NaCl were added to tap water with electrical conductivity of 219 μS. cm-1 and salinity stress followed for five months. The results showed that the salinity caused increasing Na+ concentration in root، shoot، and leaf and Ca2+ in roots. Moreover، the salinity decreased the root potassium، leaf calcium، and the ratio of K+/Na+ in root، stem and leaf. No significant changes were recorded in the accumulation of potassium in leaf and stem calcium in stem and nitrate in leaf. Among studied cultivars based on measuring the accumulation of excess ions، the Jahromi landrace were evaluated as a higher tolerance genotype in comparison with Dezful slim cultivar which showing the highest sensitivity to NaCl salinity.