The effect of different levels of salinity on germination and growth indices of four cultivars of Arachis hypogaea L.

Saline land area is increasing and salinity is one of the most important challenges in the world. The investigations have showed that salinity decrease seed germination and limit plant growth. Arachis hypogaea is an annual legume that belongs to fabaceae family and because of high oil quality and protein content is cultivated in 109 countries. In order to study the effect of different levels of salinity on germination of four genotype of Arachis hypogaea (Local cultivar، ICGV95148، ICGV96177 and ICGV03060) an experiment was conducted using four levels of NaCl (0، 50، 100 and 150 mM) in plant physiology laboratory، University of Guilan. The seed germination percentage and speed were examined at fifth، seven، ninth، eleventh and thirteenth days. On day thirteenth، length of radicle and plumule and their ratios، fresh and dry weight of seedling and seed vigor determined. Results showed that salinity and cultivar has a significant effect on all of the examined characteristics except for dry seedling weight and length of radicle. Moreover the results indicated that the interaction effect of cultivar and salinity had a significant effect on germination percent and speed، length of radicle and radical length /plumule، Total of length of radicle and plumule، seedling fresh weight and seed vigor. Local cultivar was found the most tolerant cultivars to salinity.