Effect of Saline-Alkaline Stress on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Triticale

To investigate the adaptation ability of triticale to saline-alkaline stress, SN-1 triticale was used in this study to determine the roles of different saline-alkaline ratio stress treatments during seed germination to seedling stage. In this study, we used two neutral salts (NaCl and Na ₂ SO ₄ ) and two alkaline salts (Na ₂ CO ₃ and NaHCO ₃ ), mixed in 25 different ratios, We treated SN-1 under these 25 different saline-alkaline conditions and tested seed germination and seedling stage physiological indexes including germination percentage, germination energy, germination index, seedling stem length, seedling root length, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), soluble proteins, etc. The results showed that during the period of merging, when pH and salt concentration were low, germination percentage and potential were increased. The treatment groups showed similar changing trends. The length of the germ and radicle decreased when salt-alkali concentration and especially the pH were increased, and the radicle was more sensitive than the germ. The activity of protective enzymes SOD, POD and CAT increased when salt-alkali content was low. Soluble protein content initially increased and then decreased when salt-alkali content increased. In photosynthesis system, Chlorophyll a increased while Chlorophyll b decreased. The root was very sensitive to salt-alkaline stress, all indexes showed the same trend of initial increase and subsequent decrease. The root superficial area, length, root tip number showed the same trend and decreased rapidly. All the physiological indexes indicated that the interactive effect of pH and salt concentration must be considered before sowing triticale in salt-alkaline land.