The Physiology of Salt Tolerance in Four Genotypes of Chickpea during Germination

Abstract

The physiology of salt tolerance in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) is low. Therefore, after screening of a large number of genotypes, two tolerant (SG-11 & DHG-84-11) and two susceptible (Pusa-256 & Phule G-5) chickpea genotypes were germinated in sterilized germination boxes under different levels of salt stress (NaCl : CaCl2 : Na2SO4) viz., 0.0 (control), 4.0 and 8.0dSm-1 in order to investigate the physiological basis of salt tolerance. The experiment was carried out in completely randomised design in three replications under simulated conditions. It was terminated after 8 days and the germinated seeds were subjected to various analyses. At maximum salinity stress, there was comparatively more accumulation of sugar, protein, proline and phenol in tolerant genotypes along with higher amylase, peroxidase, catalase and lower protease activities. All the characters were positively and significantly correlated. Some of these indices might be useful for improving chickpea genotypes against salinity stress.