Abstract

JAUREGUI, Carol Gisel; RUIZ, María de los Ángeles  and  ERNST, Ricardo Daniel. Tolerance to salinity in seedlings of Elymus scabrifolius and Thinopyron ponticum. Pastos y Forrajes [online]. 2017, vol.40, n.1, pp.29-36. ISSN 0864-0394.

Elymus scabrifolius and Thinopyron ponticum are two winter native and exotic, respectively, forage plants, which stand allomorphic sites. These species, through adequate management strategies, can propitiate the restoration and forage increase in zones with salinity stress. The objective of this work was to determine the seedling germination capacity and growth, under controlled laboratory conditions with increasing saline concentrations. Two varieties of E. scabrifolius from La Pampa (Argentina) and three commercial varieties of T. ponticum were evaluated. Twenty five seeds of each population were distributed in rectangular plastic trays, and the treatments consisted in applying 20 mL of NaCl solution with osmotic potentials (È_o) of 0; -0,5; -0,8; -1; -1,5 MPa. Afterwards, they were incubated in germination chamber (20-30 ºC) fulfilling light and darkness cycles. During the study the germination capacity, length of the aerial part and biomass were determined with regards to a control (0 MPa); besides, the root length: aerial part ratio was calculated. The results showed that T. ponticum was more tolerant than E. scabrifolius under salinity stress conditions in the seedling germination and growth stage; the latter is not adequate for environments with high salinity (more than -0,8 MPa). Differences were found among varieties within each species under the same saline conditions. It is concluded that the varieties can be used as forage plants for the restoration of zones with different salinity degree.

Keywords : biomass; germination; forage plants.

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