English

Abstract

Salt stress is a major problem at global level and it is very important to utilize salt-affected soils using appropriate techniques. Growing of halophytes on saline-sodic soil is a win-win strategy getting economic crop production and conserving soil resources. An experiment was conducted to characterize the salt-resistance sugar beet cultivar at seedling based on growth physiological and biochemical parameters under different levels of salt stress. A hydroponic experiment was conducted using eight sugar beet cultivars and two salt stress levels (60 and 120 mM NaCl) along with a control. The plants were harvested ten days after giving salt stress. Cluster dendrogram and principal component analysis were the most appropriate methods for screening the suitable cultivar. Most of the sugar beet cultivars responded resistance against salt stress however VEDA cultivar performed better against salt stress. Thus VEDA cultivar acquired highest position at 60 mM NaCl showing the highest growth attributes antioxidant activity with higher K+/Na+ ratio hydrogen peroxide phenolic and melandialdehyde content indicating strong defense mechanism against salt induced oxidative and osmotic stress mainly owing to the best K+ and Na+ balance. Therefore VEDA cultivar is considered as the best salt-resistant cultivar with great potential to be grown on salt-affected soils and further characterizing of this cultivar can lead to develop further salt-resistant cultivars as well.