Abstract:

The present study explored the effect of short-term Na+ salt stress on characteristic of seed germination of M. sativa. The four environmental factors used in the experimental setup included salt type, salt concentration, temperature and stress duration. Seed germination rate (potential) was assessed. The result showed that the lowest final germination rate was obtained at 30℃ when salinity stress was removed. No persistent effect of temperature treatment was found. Early temperature stress affected the germination rate only in the first 3 days and no in the later days. Na2CO3 had a long-term inhibitory impact on germination and were significantly lower than NaCl in all measures. The final germination rate decreased gradually with the rise of salinity. There was substantial recovery of germination in the 5th day from salinity stress although germination in the first 3 days was inhibited at 250 mM concentration, indicating the short-term inhibitory effect of salt concentration. Similar effect could be observed for stress duration. Longer duration caused the lower final germination rate. Treatment for 30 h inhibited germination in the first 3 days and had higher recovery of germination in the 5th day. Thus, variations in these environmental factors appeared to play variously significant roles in recovery of germination of M. sativa from short-term Na+ salt stress.