Abstract
In vitro approach was adopted to study the effect of salinity on survival and growth of rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) seeds. North-West (Punjab) part of India has been facing a major problem of soil salinity for citrus orchards. Therefore, it is logical to study the salinity tolerance of common citrus rootstock, rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.), grown in the region. The seeds were treated with nine different doses of sodium salt. In all the treatments, leaves of rough lemon seedlings showed severe injury symptoms of chlorosis and necrosis while the seeds cultured in control did not show any injury. There was a significant decrease in seed germination, seedling height, internodal length, and subsequently plant weight with increasing concentration of salt. In contrast to the above characteristics, the length of primary roots increased proportionally with the increase in salt concentration in the culture media. As under stress conditions, the in vitro grown seedlings tend to increase the root length for its survival. In comparison to the control, salt treatments showed increased level of Na + and Cl ions in the seedlings and also resulted in a decrease of K + /Na + ratio. Tolerance index was found minimum (100) in control and maximum in 154mM NaCl treatments after 4 and 8 weeks.
Highlights
Around the world, citrus is one of the major horticultural crops and is relatively salt sensitive
Growth and nutrient acquisition in rough lemon were studied under in vitro conditions where salinity was induced by incorporating different concentrations (S1 to S9, Table 1) of salt in the culture media along with a control where no salt was added (Tables 1 and 2)
The data depicted that total fresh weight as well as the dry weight of seedlings was found to be maximum in control
Summary
Citrus is one of the major horticultural crops and is relatively salt sensitive. In Punjab state, citrus crop covers an area of 44724 ha with an annual production of 9 x 108 kg (DHP, 2011). Due to the negative influence on the yields of many crops, salinity is a major problem for citrus crop. In citrus, it has an adverse effect on tree growth and causes many physiological disorders. Salt-stress lowers the net CO2 assimilation, stomata conductance, as well as water potential of citrus tree leaves in addition to the accumulation of excessive concentration of chloride or sodium in leaves (Al-Yassin, 2004).
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