Author(s)

Niaz Ahmed Kalhoro¹, Inayatullah Rajpar², Shahmir Ali Kalhoro^3,4, Amjad Ali⁵, Sajjad Raza⁵, Muneer Ahmed^3,5, Fahad Ali Kalhoro⁶, Muhammad Ramzan³, Fazli Wahid⁷

¹Soil Survey of Pakistan, Devolution Cell, Cabinet Division, Camp Office, Hyderabad, Pakistan.
²Department of Soil Science, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, Pakistan.
³Faculty of Agriculture, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Balochistan, Pakistan.
⁴Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A& F University, Yangling, China.
⁵College of Natural Resources & Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China.
⁶Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, Pakistan.
⁷Department of Plant Production and Technologies, Faculty of Agricultural Science and Technology, Omer Halisdemir University, Nigde, Turkey.

In order to study the effect of salts stress on the growth and yield of wheat (cv. Inqalab), a pot experiment was conducted in the wire-house of the Department of Soil Science, Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam. The soil was artificially salinized to a range of salinity levels i.e . EC 2.16, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0 and 10.0 dS·m^-1 with different salts (MgCl₂ + CaCl₂ + Na₂SO₄). The salinized soil used for the experiment was sandy clay in texture, alkaline in reaction (pH > 7.0) and moderate in organic matter (0.95%) content. The results showed that with increasing salinity there was an increase in the ECe, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Cl^- and decrease in the K⁺, SAR and ESP values of the soil Increasing salinity, progressively decreased plant height, spike length, number of spikelets spike^-1 1000 grain weight and yield (straw and grain). Adverse effects of salts on plants were associated with the accumulation of less K⁺ and more Na⁺ and Cl^- in their flag leaf sap, grains and straw. This resulted in lower K⁺:5Na⁺ ratio in flag leaf sap, grains and straw of wheat plants. These results indicated that the effects of salts stress were greater at 10 than at 8, 6 and 4 EC dS·m^-1.

Salinity, Tolerance, Effect, Yield, Wheat

Ahmed Kalhoro, N. , Rajpar, I. , Ali Kalhoro, S. , Ali, A. , Raza, S. , Ahmed, M. , Ali Kalhoro, F. , Ramzan, M. and Wahid, F. (2016) Effect of Salts Stress on the Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). American Journal of Plant Sciences, 7, 2257-2271. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2016.715199.