Effects of Salinity on Seedling Growth, Potassium and Phosphorus Absorption in

Some Lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) Cultivars

Reema chaudhry, Rekha Rani Chauhan and Alka Singh

Department of Botany, KGK College Moradabad-244001,U.P.
Department of Botany, Hindu college, Moradabad, ,U.P
Abstract
The effects of salinity on germination, seedling growth, potassium and phosphorous
accumulation in some cultivars of lentil were studies. Seedlings of 10 varieties of lentil
(lens culinaris) were raised in Petridishes lined with filter papers and moistened with
saline solutions (0, 3, 6, 7.2, 10, 12, 14 dSm-1 ), prepared by mixing salts of NaCl, CaCl2,
Na2So4 and NaHCo3. Germination percentage, seedling growth (length and dry weight of
root and shoot) as well as the potassium and phosphorous were analyzed in 10 days old
seedlings. The results indicated that germination percentage and seedling growth were
significantly decreased by salinity increased. The concentration of P declined with
increasing salt stress with considerable variations among genotypes. Data indicated that P
content was decreased with increasing salinity while K exhibited variations at different
EC levels. K content increased gradually from control to 6 dSm -1 but drastic reduction
was noted at 7.2 dSm-1 and beyond. The results suggest that cultivars PL-406 and DPL-15
were relatively tolerant to salinity while PL-639 and PL-81 proved comparatively
sensitive.
Keywords: salinity, seedling growth, potassium phosphorus, Lentil
Introduction:
Salinity is known to affect adversely germination, seedling growth and
yield of crop plants. World wide, about one third of irrigated arable land is already
affected and that level is still rising 1,2 have observed that the inhibition of growth is more
pronounced beyond 8 mmhos/cm and shoot growth is more adversely affected. The
primary physiological responses that result in the inhibition of growth under salinity have
not yet been identified.1,3-5 One of the hypotheses conventionally discussed in to salinity
induced shoot growth inhibition is the specific ion effects. According to the specific
ion effects theory salinity induced excess or deficiency of specific nutrients triggers a
primary responses that directly affects growth. 1Most of the crop plants are glycophytes,
which have evolved under low salt. The mechanisms they have evolved for uptake,
transport, recirculation and utilization of minerals may not function, optimally under
saline conditions. 6-8Micro and macronutrients concentrations in plant tissues often

change under salinity, and plants may become susceptible to specific ion injuries as well
as to disorders. 1,9,10 Increasing crop salt tolerance is a highly attractive approach to
overcoming the salinity threat the need of the hour is to explore and select salt tolerant
genotypes with in a species in comparison to relatively salt sensitive one through
conventional selection and breeding techniques.
Lentil is one of the most important and oldest rabi crop and belongs to
family fabaceae. It is very nutritious and potential to cover the risk of dry land
agriculture. It is considered highly sensitive to salt stress, like many other leguminous
crops. There are very few reports on lentil in relation to salinity stress, however, there are
fragmentary and conclusive evidence was provided. Therefore identification of
physiological basis of tolerance to salinity will be of great practical importance.
The objectives of the present study in therefore to screen ten genotype of
lentil commonly cultivated by the indigenous farmer to determine which genotypes can
tolerate saline environments and thus help extend the present frontier for their cultivation.
In the report, we described the effect of different salinity levels on germination of seeds,
early seedling growth and micro-macro nutrient uptake in shoot of lentil.

Materials and Methods

Seeds of lentil (lens culinaris cv.IPL-81, DPL-15, PL-639, PL-406, PL-234, PL-4, DPLei62 and L-4147) were obtained from G.B.P.U.A.T., Pantnagar, (UttaraKhand) and
I.A.R.I. New Delhi for the evaluation for their salinity tolerance at seedling stage. Initial
screening trial and regard to salt tolerance was undertaken in petridishes in laboratory.
For this purpose, 3 diameter sized Petridishes were thoroughly cleaned and then surface
sterilized in hot air oven at 700 C for 36 hours. These were lined with whatman no. 1 filter
paper and moistened with 1tolu s0 ml of saline solution. Saline solution of different
electrical conductivities (3.0, 6.0, 7.2, 10, 12, 14 dSm-1) were prepared by mixing salts of
NaCl, Na2So4, NaHCO3 and CaCl2 as described by the U.S. Saline Laborator Staff, 1954
and Control sets were moistened with equal amount of distilled water.
Healthy seeds of different varieties of lentil were surface sterlized
with 0.01% HgCl2 solution for min. and then washed thoroughly with distilled water 3
times. 25 seeds of each variety were placed at equidistance on the moistened filter paper
in a petridishes. Each set of different saline treatments was maintained in triplicates.
Petridishes were covered with lids and after soaking seeds were kept in B.O.D. incubator
for 10 days at day/night temperature of 280C. Germination counts were made regularly
but in the final germination percentage was calculated. Data on length and fresh weight
of shoot and root were recorded at 10 days after .soaking. the dry weight of shoot and
root determined after keeping the plant samples in hot air oven at 60 0C for 48 hours.
Each observation was recorded in triplicates. For the estimation of P and K contents,
uniformed sized samples were collected after 10 days of soaking from 0-14 dSm -1. EC
levels and seedling were separated in root and shoot. The shoot samples were washed in

distilled water and were kept on filter paper for few minutes. These shoot samples were
now dried at 600C for 48 hours in hot oven. After drying, these samples were ground to
fine powder. 1 gm of finely ground shoot dry matter was digested in a beakers with 5 ml
of conc. HNO3 and 1 ml of conc. H2SO4. They were mixed well and kept overnight at
room temperature for by digestion on hot plate (70 0C-800C) until the volume of samples
is reduced to 1ml. To this, 3 ml of double acid mixture of HNO 3 and HClO4 in 3:1 was
added and digested till white fumes came out from the samples. Now samples are diluted
with 2 ml of triple distilled water and filtered through whatman filter paper no. 1.
repeated washings of digestion beaker and filter paper were done by taking 0.5 ml of
digested water and finally it was made to 50 ml. samples analysis was done by attached
computer to Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS)model ASS 4141 ECIL and
concentration of mineral samples was expressed in ppm.
Statistical analysis
All the observation made in triplicates and were subjected to statistical analysis for the
variance test. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed by minitab
statistical program (Minitab Inc., State college, PA). Geometrical mean was determined
for length, fresh weight and dry weight oh shoot as GM= (ns x ss) 1/2. Percent reduction
(PR) due to salinity stress was also determined for length, fresh weight of roots and
shoots in comparison to average controls.
Result and Discussion
Effects of salinization on seed germination
Observation on germination revealed that it decreased with the increase salt concentration
in all the ten varieties of lentil (Table-1). However, the varietal differences existed. At 3
Ec levels, all cultivars showed a marginal decline except for the cultivars showed a
marginal decline except for the cultivars L-4147 (20%), PL-4 (12%) and L-4046 (14%).
Thereafter, a decline was observed from 6 to 10 dSm -1 however, sharpest decline was
seen at 12 and 14 dSm-1. The varieties showed minimum reduction were DPL-15 (2240%) and PL-406 (25-40%). Seeds of variety L-4046 germinated but failed to grow at 12
and 14 dSm-1 These results were in agreement with 11 who found that high level of soil
salinity could significantly inhibited seed germination could be attributed to osmotic
stress or specific ion toxicity. 12

Effects of salinization on seedling growth

The data revealed that a reduction in root and shoot length was experienced at all salinity
levels (Table-1). This adverse effects of salinity levels from 3 to 14 dSm -1. However,
cultivar IPL-81 registered significant increase in both root and shoot length while
cultivar PL-406 showed increase in root length only at 3dSm -1. The reason for the
reduced root and shoot length may be due to the toxic effects of NaCl used as well as
unbalanced nutrient uptake by seedling. High salinity may inhibit root and shoot
elongation due to slowing down of water uptake by the plant. 13
The perusal of data indicate that varieties showed a decline trend in root and shoot dry
weight as concentration of salt stress increased and results were more evident at 7.2, 10,
12, 14 dSm-1. Reduction in dry weight under salt stress may be attributed to inhibition of
hydrolysis of reserve synthesizing food and its translocation to the growing shoots. Hence
reduction in shoot dry weight with decline in root weight was normal reaction. Shoot
growth is a complex phenomenon and several factors other than reduced growth are
involved. According to cheeseman, 1988, 3 salinity stress imposes additional energy
requirement on plant cells and diverts metabolic carbon to storage pools so that less
carbon is available for growth.
Effects of salinization on Potassium and Phosphorous uptake
Present findings indicate that K uptake significantly increased at 3 and 6 dSm -1 but a
sharp reduction was noticed at 7.2 dSm-1(table-2). Again the reduction continued at 12
and 14 dSm-1. The only exception was cv L-4147 which registered significant reduction
at 6 dSm-1 also. The pattern for K uptake , was similar in all the varieties, however,
quantitatively differed. Bhivare and Nimbaker, 1984 found that the reduction of K
content and increased of Na content in plant could be attributed to the effect o the
capacity competition between Na and K ions on the absorptive sites of plants. 14 The
reduction in K concentration causes a growth reduction by decrease the capacity of plants
for osmotic adjustment and turgor maintenance or by the negative effects on metabolic
functions of protein. The cation K is essential for cell expansion, osmo-regulation and
cellular and whole plant homeostasis.15 High stomatal K requirement is reported for
photosynthesis.16
Data indicated that P content at seedling stage increased in cultivars IPL-81, DPL-15, PL406 and PL-4 at 3 dSm-1, while in other cultivars reduced marginally as compared to

control.17-19 It was interesting to note that DPL-15 showed highest increase of 33% in P
content at 6 dSm-1, but further declined upto 14 dSm-1. In PL-639, P content showed
insignificant reduction from 3 to 14 dSm -1. In cultivars PL-234, P content reduced
significantly from 6 to 14 dSm-1. All other varieties had no significant effect. The
interaction between salinity and P nutrition of plants is complex phenomenon and there is
no clear cut mechanistic explanation for decreased, increased or unchanged P uptake in
response to salinization. Sharpley et al., 1992 also reported that in most of cases, salinity
decreases the concentration of P in the plant tissues. 20 However, it is known that P
concentration is related to the rate of photosynthesis, but it decreases the conversion of
fixed carbon into starch 21and therefore decrease of P in leaves will reduce shoot growth.
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