Salt Tolerance Assessment in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Ecotypes

Salt stress is a serious environmental problem throughout the world which may be partially relieved by breeding cultivars that can tolerate salt stress. Plant breeding may provide a relatively cost effective short-term solution to the salinity problem by producing cultivars able to remain productive at low to moderate levels of salinity. Two alfalfa cultivars, IGFRI-S-54 and Anand II were assessed for salt tolerance at three stages leaf, flowering and mature plant stage. A petriplates screening system was used to evaluate individual alfalfa plants grown in per lit medium and irrigated with water containing different amounts of NaCl. Soil sample analysis, seed germination, growth rate (root length and shoot length) fresh weight and dry weight were determined. Almost both the variety showed reduction in root length and shoot length with increasing regimes of salinity. The increase in ECE level showed inverse relation with the plant height. The analysis of both the cultivar indicates that ANAND II was better adapted to salinity condition as compared to IGFRI-S-54.