Effect of salinity stress on growth characteristics,chlorophyll fluorescence and concentrations of nutrition elements in fourteen pistachio (Pistacia vera) cultivars

In order to evaluate the tolerance of pistachio some cultivars to salinity a pot experiment was carried with 2 factors including cultivar and salinity in the year 2013. The cultivars were Ghazvini, Shah Pasand, Akbari, Khanjari, Jandaghi, Italiyayi, Fndoghi 48, Sabz Pesteh Tohg, Ahmad Aghayi, Rezaie Zood Res, Mousa Abadi, Ebarahimi, Kaleh Ghochi and Badami Zarand. The salinity was applied in five levels including 0, 2.4, 4.8, 7.2 and 9.6 g/l of sodium chloride with electrical conductivity equal to 0.5, 4.9, 9.8, 14.74 and 19.8 ds/m, respectively). Results revealed that in all of the studied cultivars, branch height, branch diameter, number of total leaves, percentage of green leaves, fresh and dry weight of leaves, shoots and root, relative humidity content, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophylls, reduced when salinity level increased. But, percentage of necrotic leaves, percentage of downfall leave, root/shoot fresh and dry weight ratio, relative ionic percentage and cell membrane injury percentage were increased. Overall, Ghazvini was found to be the most tolerant cultivar to salinity stress (14.75 ds/m) among the evaluated cultivars. In contrast, Mousa Abadi and Rezaie Zood Res were the most sensitive cultivars to salinity stress.