[01] Siddig A. M. Ali, Department of agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zalingei, Zalingei, Sudan. [02] Abdellatif Y. Idris, Department of agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zalingei, Zalingei, Sudan.

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of salinity levels on seed germination and seedling growth of two pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) cultivars. A laboratory experiment was conducted using two pearl millet cultivars locally named Dimbi (red seeded color) and Bauoda (white seeded color). Fifty seeds of each of the cultivars were germinated in Petri dishes containing filter paper of 9cm diameter. Treatments comprised of control (distilled water), 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% Sodium Chloride (NaCl). Treatments were laid in a factorial experiment in completely randomized design (CRD) with 4 replications. Data recorded were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). Least Significant Differences (LSD) method was used to test the differences between treatments means at 5% and 1% probability level. Number of germinated seeds was significantly affected by salinity level, especially by the higher salt concentrations compared with the control. Germination percentage and seedling vigor index (SVI) decreased with increasing salinity level. The differences between treatments were highly significant (p ≤ 0.01). The highest seed germination percentage (99.3%) and seedling vigor index (18.46) were found with the control (0% NaCl) and the lowest values were found with 1.5% concentration. Plumule length and fresh weight decreased significantly as concentration of NaCl increased. Cultivar had insignificant effect on all parameters measured except for radical fresh weight. Dimbi resulted in significantly (p ≤ 0.05) heavier weight, highest germination percentage and seedling vigor index compared to Bauoda and this was the trend for other parameters except plumule fresh weight. An interaction between salinity levels and cultivars exerted non significant effect on all parameters measured.

Pearl Millet, Salinity, Germination, Seedling Growth

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