Abstract

In order to study the effect of salinity stress on germination and early growth of seedling of hybrids of maize, experiment was conducted at Seed Laboratory, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar Branch, Iran in 2011. The principal aim of current study was to compare the hybrids of maize in relative to the stress conditions. This investigation was performed as factorial experiment under Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. There were seven hybrids of selected inbred lines and five salinity levels (0, -3, -6, -9 and -12 bar) of NaCl. Analysis of variance showed for hybrids, there were significant difference for all traits, except the length of radicle and the length of seedling. Results indicated that germination percentage, germination rate, length of radicle and plumule, length of seedling and seed vigour traits were decreased by decrease in osmotic potential, whereas the best performance was from seedlings germinated in pure water (control treatment). The mean germination time increased with decrease in the osmotic potential in NaCl solution. Hybrid K18×K47/2-2-21-2-1-1-1 was the most tolerant hybrid than other hybrids under salinity stress.

Key words: Early growth, germination, maize, Sodium Chloride, salinity stress.