Interactive effects of salinity and both forms and levels of nitrogen fertility on growth and yield of barley

Abstract

The salt tolerance of crops has been studied usually under optimal fertility conditions. With the increasing use of saline soils and saline water for agriculture, fertilizer application under saline conditions has been the subject of considerable interest. A pot experiment was conducted to study the interactive effects of salinity and fertility, using different forms and levels of nitrogen, on the growth and yield of two barley varieties cv., Giza 123 and Giza 124.Salinity stress was introduced by irrigation with saline water with 5000 ppm NaCI and the control was maintained with fresh water. Nitrogen fertilizer was supplied in three forms cv. ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphate and urea. Low, medium and high levels of each fertilizer were used.Saline irrigation reduced fresh and dry weight, plant height, leaves area per plant, 1000 kernel weight, biomass production per plant, grain yield per plant, straw yield per plant and harvest index. Salinity stress increased no. of days to heading. Significant differences were exhibited by the two barley varieties in their responses to the salinity stress. The variety Giza 123 showed higher salinity index than Giza 124. Ammonium nitrate form (A) showed better salinity index for most of the studied characters than ammonium sulphate (B) or urea (C). Increasing the level of fertilizers did not increase the salinity index in most cases except for 1000 kernel weight and harvest index.Keywords:barleynitrogenfertilizersalinitysalinity-fertility interactionsodium chloride