Salt Tolerance at Germination of Two Forage Grasses for Reclamation of Salinity Habitats

Environmental stresses are among the most limiting factors to crop plant productivity. Salinity is one of the most detrimental ones. Establishment of seedlings at early growth stages of crop plants as one of the most important. Determinants of high yield are severely affected by soil salinity. Therefore, high germination rate and vigorous early growth under salty soils is preferred. Aeluropus lagopoides and A. littoralis are perennial grasses distributed in many saline areas and they are important economic plants used for sand fixation, pastures and other purposes. Seed germination is the critical stage for species survival. Seeds of halophytes usually show optimal germination in freshwater similar to glycophytes, but differ in their ability to germinate at higher salinities. The main objective of this study was to determine seed germination percentages and rates of Aeluropus lagopoides and A. littoralis when exposed to increased salinity. Mature seeds were collected from natural populations and a factorial complete randomized design of seven salinity levels 0 (control), 75, 150, 225, 300, 375 and 450 mM NaCl were used. Seeds were incubated in light at 25?C and checked daily for 14 days. Maximum germination occurred in absence of salt, and salinity significantly decreased germination percentages and rates. The highest and the lowest resistance to increased salinity were observed in Aeluropus littoralis and Aeluropus lagopoides respectively. Thus, Aeluropus littoralis is more suitable than Aeluropus lagopoides for reclamation of salinity habitats.