Effect of Salinity and Temperature on the Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Desert Forage Grass Lasiurus scindicus Henr

Jahangir A. Malik, AbdulAziz A. AlQarawi, Mashail N. AlZain, Basharat A. Dar, Muhammad M. Habib and Salah Nasser S. Ibrahim
Additional contact information
Jahangir A. Malik: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
AbdulAziz A. AlQarawi: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mashail N. AlZain: Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Basharat A. Dar: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad M. Habib: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Salah Nasser S. Ibrahim: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-17

Abstract: Lasiurus scindicus Henr. is one of the most important forage grass species of the Arabian deserts. Temperature and soil salinity are well known to influence the germination and seedling development of various forage species. Therefore, in the current study, the effect of temperature and salinity and their interaction on the germination parameters, seedling growth, and physiological parameters of L. scindicus were evaluated. For this reason, L. scindicus seeds were treated with five salinity concentrations (i.e., 0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM NaCl) and incubated at two temperature levels (T1 = 25/20 °C, D/N and T2 = 35/30 °C, D/N). The results indicated that the salinity and temperature significantly affected the germination indices, seedling growth parameters, chlorophyll, and proline content. The highest germination percentage (GP; 90%) was recorded in the non-saline-treated seeds incubated at T1. The seeds at T2 under the non-saline treatment exhibited an increased germination rate (GR = 17.5%). The interactive effect of salinity and temperature on germination and growth parameters was significant, indicating that the germination response to salinity depends on temperature. The germination of seeds treated with 200 mM NaCl was completely inhibited at both temperatures T1 and T2. However, the ungerminated seeds at both T1 (85%) and T2 (78%) restored their germination abilities after they were transferred to distilled water. Also, the seed vigor index (SVI) constantly showed a decline with the increasing salinity levels especially at T2, which was lowest when seeds were treated with 150 mM salinity. Growth parameters (i.e., aRL, aSL, RDW, SDW, SB, and SLA) and the chlorophyll content showed a similar pattern as that of germination. However, the proline content (shoot proline and root proline) showed a progressive increase with increasing salinity and temperature. All of these characteristics indicate that L. scindicus seeds were not able to germinate under extreme salinity and temperature conditions but remained viable in a state of enforced dormancy. This is most likely an important adaptive strategy of this species for survival in the high-saline changing habitats of the arid region of Saudi Arabia, and thus, it can be an excellent choice for restoring degraded rangelands and salinity-inflicted abundant farmlands for forage agriculture.

Keywords: Lasiurus scindicus; salinity; temperature; seed germination; chlorophyll; proline; restoration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8387/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8387/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8387-:d:858646

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().