| Abstrakt: |
Salt stress is one of the serious abiotic factors endangering global agricultural output, and it is expected to worsen as a result of climate change. The purpose of this study is to mitigate the impact of salt stress and improve the reproductive capacity of lucerne by using farmyard manure (FYM) and vermicompost (VC), the two popular organic fertilizers. Lucerne seeds were planted in a completely randomized design (CRD) in pots containing soil supplemented separately with varied quantities (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 per cent w/w) of FYM and VC. At 30th day after germination (DAG) when the plants had achieved enough strength to endure the stress, they were treated with 0, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 mM of NaCl solutions for 45 days. Plants were harvested at 90th day after germination and the number of inflorescences / plant (NI), number of seeds / plant (NS) and seed yield g / plant (SY) were recorded. The data revealed that there was an increase in NI, NS and SY in both the FYM and VC soil amendments with lower doses of 0, 10, 20 and 50mM salt. The plants failed to survive at 500mM NaCl and perished after very first application of the salt. For FYM fertilization, the peaks 76 / plant, 3481 / plant and 10.54 g/plant, respectively of NI, NS and SY were observed at 50mM NaCl with 15 per cent FYM whereas the peaks of 68 / plant, 3208 / plant and 9.71g / plant of NI, NS and SY were observed at the same level of NaCl (50 mM) with 15 per cent VC. Comparatively, the FYM was found to be more effective in enhancing the seed yield than VC. The progeny seeds (R1) obtained from the plants raised on the soil amended with FYM and VC and treated with various levels of NaCl revealed their germination in the range of 81.67 ± 6.02 to 91.33 ± 1.52 per cent against the 83.33±3.05 per cent of control (R0) whereas, the radicle length ranged from 3.6 ± 0.30 to 4.2 ± 0.36cm without showing any statistical difference over the radicle length (3.84 ± 0.32cm) of control. It can be inferred from our data that there is a wide range of salt tolerance in the germplasm of this lucerne cultivar that may be used in breeding to increase salt tolerance in its salt-sensitive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
