Effect of Brine (NaCl) on Germination of Sorghum and Pearl millet Seeds

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of salinity levels on seed germination of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. R. Br.) in a Laboratory. The experiment was conducted using one improved sorghum variety Kaura and one pearl millet variety SOSAT-C88. Fifty seeds of each of the treatment were germinated in Petri dishes containing filter paper of 9cm diameter. Treatments comprised of control (distilled water), 1.0M, 1.5M and 2.0M NaCl concentrations. Treatments were arranged in completely randomized design (CRD) with 5 replications. Data recorded for both experiment were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). Least Significant Differences (LSD) was used to test differences between treatments means at 5% level of probability. Results of the analysis revealed that all brine concentrations reduced significantly the germination of sorghum and millet seeds compared with the control treatment by 90.56% and 84.24%, respectively. However, there was no significant difference in sorghum and millet seeds germination between the brine concentrations. The germination percentage of the sorghum seeds with brine treatments keeps decreasing with increasing brine concentration and reaches a peak at 1.5M NaCl concentration (62.36%) and then sharply decreased (44.36%) with increase concentration. In millet, the lowest seed germination percentage was obtained from 1.5M NaCl and 2.0M NaCl concentrations (both at 32.52 %). In conclusion, irrespective of NaCl concentrations, the germination of sorghum and millet seeds were significantly reduced, but optimum germination was obtained at 1.M and 1.5M for sorghum and millet seeds, respectively. Keywords: Sorghum, Pearl Millet, NaCl, Germination