Effects of salt stress on some growth parameters and chemical contents of two forage sorghum lines

Soil salinity has been recognized as the most serious problems for agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas of the world. To evaluate the changes in some growth parameters and chemical composition of two forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor var. sudanense lines (KFS1, KFS2) under salinity stress [0 (control), 3, 6, 9, 12 dS/m of sodium chloride], a pot experiment was carried out at College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran in 2012 . The experiment was conducted as factorial arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications. Results showed that increasing salinity levels decreased accumulation of K, emergence percentage and other growth parameters, and increased Na, proline and total proteins contents in shoot and leaves. Stepwise regression and correlation analysis showed that root density is the most important factor for plant productivity. KFS1 line generally had higher power of survival, growth and emergence rate and can be a favorite one for selecting and crossing programs with KFS2 to obtain higher salinity tolerance.