EFFECT OF SALINITY STRESS ON SOME PHISIOLOGICAL INDICES OF WHITE CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM REPENS).

Salinity is an factor which has a critical influence on seed germination and plant establishment. During the present study the effect of salinity on seeds germination, seedling growth and chlorophyll content of Trifolium repens was studied. Experiments were conducted in laboratory condition. The salinity was induced using three concentration of NaCl (0 mM NaCl, 40 mM and 80 mM). Determinations were recorded in three periods, after (3, 10 and 17 days) and were analysed percentage of germination, MDG and DGS, seedling growth and chlorophyll content. In normal condition Trifolium repens showed highest percentage of germination 79.33%, while in stress salt condition percentage of germination was reduced in proportion to the increase in saline concentration. In salt stress condition we observed that the mean daily germination (MDG) decreased, while daily germination speed (DGS) increased. The effect of the NaCl concentration on the growth in the clover seedlings they showed values between 2.372 cm on the V3 variant and 3.603 cm on the Vo variant. The application of treatments that induced saline stress led to a significant decrease in growth in proportion to the level of differences between treatments. Referring to the effect of the environment on the accumulation of chlorophyll, it was observed that the chlorophyll content decreased under conditions of saline stress (24.15 SPAD). Salt tolerance data may be used to select clover with the highest potential for agronomic production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]