FFECT OF SALINITY ON SEED GERMINATION AND EARLY SEEDLING GROWTH OF Acacia auriculiformis

Abstract

Seed germination and early seedling growth of different species in saline condition is familiar to all. But effect of salinity on seed germination and early seedling growth of Acacia auriculiformis is not well known to all. So, a pot experiment was conducted at the Agroforestry research field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207 during the period from 02 July, 2020 to 15 February, 2021 to find out the effects of salinity on seed germination and early seedling growth of Acacia auriculiformis. The experiment consisted of single factor as salinity. There are eight treatments namely were as follows: S₀ = 0 mM, S₁ = 25 mM, S₂ = 50 mM, S₃ = 75 mM, S₄ = 100 mM, S₅ = 150 mM, S₆ = 200 mM and S₇ = 250 Mm NaCl concentration. This experiment was laid out in CRD(completely randomized design) with four replications. Germination (%), plant height, branch length, number of branches plant⁻¹ at different data recording intervals gradually decreased with increasing salinity level. The highest value for the growth attributes mentioned above were obtained from control treatment while the lowest values were seen in 200–250 mM concentration of salinity. Leaf length was not affected significantly but the variation among the leaf width value were significantly influenced due to different concentration of salinity with the highest values were recorded from 0– 150 mM salinity and the lowest values were recorded around 250 mM concentration. Shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight and root dry weight all were varied significantly due to the effect of different level of saline condition.