How Pistachio Hybrid “P. Integerrima × P. Vera “ grows and responses to NaCl salinity

ABSTRACT

The effects of NaCl salinity on the seed germination, growth, and some physiological characteristics in ‘Akbari,’ ‘Akbari’ hybrid (P. integrrima × ‘Akbari’), ‘Qazvini,’ and ‘Qazvini’ hybrid (P. integrrima × ‘Qazvini’) were investigated. The experiment was conducted with three salinity levels (0, 100, and 200 mM) as NaCl. The results indicated that the highest germination percent in salt-treated seeds was observed in ‘Akbari.’ Prolin and Na concentrations in the leaves were significantly (P ≤ 0.01) increase by salinity regardless of the various cultivars. Vegetative growth in terms of rootlet, stem and leaf number, fresh weight, dry weight were reduced by salinity. However, the reduction of growth was varied with cultivars. Leaf number, fresh and dry weight of ‘Akbari’ and ‘Akbari’ hybrid in salinity treatments was higher than that of treated two other cultivars. Finally results were showed that although ‘Akbari’ showed higher tolerance to salinity but significant differences were not observed between ‘Akbari’ and ‘Akbari’ hybrid rootstocks. Hence ‘Akbari’ hybrids could be appropriate candidates for researches and cultivation of pistachio in the saline areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Pistachio rootstocks
• salinity stress
• vegetative growth
• physiological characteristics