Barley seed germination in NaCl + CaCl2 solution, natural saline water and saline soil

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) known as a tolerant plant to salinity and has capability to produce reasonable yield under saline conditions. Salinity decreases water uptake by seeds and can lead to delay in germination and seedling establishment. To investigate the effect of salinity on barley germination, three different experiments were carried out in completely randomized design through 13 treatments each with three replications. In these experiments, germination process was studied within three different media including NaCl+CaCl2 solution, natural saline water and natural saline soil. Studied variety was the spring variety, Tropy. The salinity levels in all experiments were consisted of control (0.005), 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 27 dS.m-1. The germinatedseeds were counted at designated time intervals and continued up to full germination or until the consecutive counting were the same. The number of germinated seeds as well as the germination rates were then calculated and analyzed. The results indicated that by increasing salinity, both percentage and rate of germination decreased. There were further reductions in natural saline water than the NaCl+CaCl2 solution. In higher salinity levels, the germination rate was decreased, while the required time for germination has increased. Seeds were germinated in all salinity treatments within the NaCl+CaCl2 solution. But in the soil medium, germination was successful up to 13 dS.m-1 and the germinated seed numbers were rapidly reduced such that in 23 dS.m-1 treatment no seed was germinated. This observation can be attributed to the fact that in the saline soil medium, the matric potential is also reducing the seed water uptake.