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Salinity effects on five cultivars/lines of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum [L] leeke)

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Abstract

The effects of increased salinity [NaCl + CaCl2] on seedlings of five accessions of pearl millet grown for 2 and 7 weeks, respectively, in salinised solution cultures at EC 0.6, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 ds m−1 and sand cultures at EC 0.6 and 20 were assessed. There were no consistent relationships between seedlings characters at two and seven weeks in response to increased salinity, and no single character provided an acceptable means of differentiating cultivar/line response. The line having lower shoot mortality had a high root weight, a shoot:root ratio approaching 1, the greatest shoot water content, and the greatest plant height. No relationship was found between these whole-plant characters which suggest greater salinity tolerance, and the pattern of ion distribution, particularly Na+ and Cl−. Sufficient inter-cultivar/line variation in response to salinity was found to suggest that selection of individuals with increased salinity tolerance is possible within pearl millet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, The University, P.O. Box 147, L69 3BX, Liverpool, UK

    M. Ashraf & T. McNeilly

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  1. M. Ashraf
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  2. T. McNeilly
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Ashraf, M., McNeilly, T. Salinity effects on five cultivars/lines of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum [L] leeke). Plant Soil 103, 13–19 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02370662

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02370662

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