Study of the Effects of Salinity on Growth and Development of Lawns(Lolium perenne L., Festuca arundinacea and Cynodon dactylon)

Due to the existence of salinity and high temperature and sensitivity of some plants in most regions of Iran, especially in Khoozestan, there are a lat of difficulties in the planting and husbandry of lawn. Therefore an experiment was carried out under field conditions, to investigate the effect of seven levels of salinity as: Karun river water with EC of 1.09, distilled water (0.01) and irrigation with hand made salinity of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 dS/m on the growth and development of three types of lawn namely: Lolium perenne L. cultivar Barball, Festuca arundinacea cultivar Kentaky-31-C and Cynodon dactylon cultivar Primo in the form of a 7×3 factorial with a completely randomized design in 3 replication. A number of leaves on the main shoot and tiller, fresh and dry weight of leaves, leaf area and a number of tiller per plant were recorded. According to the results, it was revealed that the effect of salinity, Genus and interaction were significant (P<0.05) on growth parameters. In all salinity levels, Cynodon dactylon, in comparison to the other two genus displayed the highest rate of growth, while between the two other genus there were no significant differences. In addition, it was revealed that the number of leaf on the tiller and main shoot in Cynodon dactylon at a salinity of 15 dS/m was 5.1 and 4, respectively. Whereas in others, no leaves were initiated at this level of salinity. It was also appeared that at salinity of 15 dS/m, the growth of leaf area, the fresh and dry weight of leaves greatly decreased in Lolium perenne and Festuca arundinacea, while Cynodon dactylon still had growth ability. It was concluded that the number of tiller per plant and high of the plant was less affected by salinity, compared to the other growth parameters in all of genus.