Effect of Saline Water on Germination and Vegetative Growth of Faba Bean

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) solution on the germination and the vegetative growth of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) cv Agabat. The NaCl solution concentrations used were 0.00 ( distilled water as a control), 0.032, 0.063, 0.125, and 0.250 molar. The daily and final germination percentage was not significant affected by the 0.00, 0.032 and 0.063and 0.125 M. The final germination percentage for these NaCl concentrations were above 90%, whereas that for the 0.250 M was significantly less (70%) and no seeds had germinated using the 0.50 M NaCl solution. The rate of germination, as judged by time to 50% of the final germination percentage (GT50), the germination rate index (GRI) and the corrected germination rate index (CGRI) was significantly higher for the distilled water in comparison with the NaCl solutions tested. In contrast the 0.250 M NaCl solution resulted in the lowest seed germination rate. The other solutions resulted in almost similar values. The weekly height of the plant was not very much affected by the solutions with the exception of the 0.125 M which killed the plants at the fourth and fifth weeks. The same trend was followed by the number of leaves per plant. The fresh and dry weights of plants are the same for the solutions with the exception of the 0.125 M NaCl solution which resulted in statistically significant lower weights. From this study it seems that more research is needed to investigate the response of this popular legume in the Sudanese diet to the saline irrigation water due to the exploitation of upper lands which are irrigated with waters from wells, most of which were saline to some extent.