Effect of NaCl salinity on germination, growth,gas exchanche and yield of greenhouse eggplant

Eggplant : solanaceae Solanum melongena var. Delica

The completely randomized block design 6 treatments Zero (cintrol) 10mmol plant for per treatment

External NaCl salinity up to 50 mmol delayed germination but did not reduce the final percentage: at 100 mmol and 150mmol the seed germination was reduced significantly. Effect of salinity on germination

No diffrences were found in radicle elongation up to 50mmol NaCl. Only at 100mmol and 150 mmol NaCl was radicle elongation severely affected by salinity when at day 7 after starting the test, 36% and 74% reductions in length respectively, were observed compared with the other salinity levels. Effect of salinity on radicle length of eggplant seeds

Effect of salinity on the emergence of germinated seeds and growth of seedlings

Seedling emergence was reduced significantly at 100 mmol and 150 mmol NaCl, where 85% and 75% of the germinated seeds had emerged, respectivly, after 14 days. The seedling height as well as the leaf area and dry weight were significantly higher at 0 and 10 mmol NaCl, decreased as the external salinity increased.

Wegetative growth, i.e. shoot length and dry weight, 6 weeks after salt imposition, were significantly reduced at salinities higher than 10 mmol. Effect of salinity on shoot length(SL) and shoot dry weight(SDW)

Leaf size was the most sensitive parameter to NaCl salinity while leaf number was not affected. Effect of salinity on total leaf area

Leaf tissue concentrations of Cl‾ and Na+ increased significantly with increasing external NaCl salinity in the rooting medium while K+ showed a trend to decrease. Effect of salinity on the concentration of various ions within the leaves

There was significantl difference in Pn rate between leaves 20 and 28 on a unit area basis. Effect of salinity on photosynthetic rate

Effect of salinity on yield

yield decreased significantly with increasing salinity over 10 mmol NaCl.  The average fruit weight was reduced significantly at 50mmol NaCl, while the totol number of fruit harvested at 25mmol.  The lower yield at25mmol NaCl was due to a decrease in number of fruits per plant only, whereas at 50mmol,100mmol and 150mmol both the number and size of the fruit were reduced.