CONSEQUENCES OF SALINITY ON GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF RICE (Oryza sativa L.)

A pot culture experiment was conducted to determine salinity effect on growth and yield of rice during Aman season (June-December), 2010 at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka. Four cultivars (Sadamota, BRRI dhan40, Heera, Lalmota) and five salinity levels (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 dS m^-1) were imposed in the experiment. The tallest plants were found in Sadamota and Lalmota while shortest plants were obtained from Heera. But relative shoot dry weight and relative total dry matter were highest in Heera.  Highest number of filled grains panicle^-1 (78.46), thousand grain weight (24.02 g) and grain yield (8.49 g hill^-1) were recorded in Heera and lowest thousand grain weight (15.78 g) and grain yield (6.72 g hill^-1) were recorded in BRRI dhan40. Plant height was highest at control salinity treatment and lowest in 12 dS m^-1 for every cultivar. Similar results were observed in case of relative root and shoot dry weight, relative total dry matter, number of effective tillers hill^-1, panicle length and number of filled grains panicle^-1 for each of the cultivars. Almost all parameters decreased with increasing salinity but this decreasing tendency was slower in Heera. Number of non-effective tillers hill^-1 and unfilled grains panicle^-1 increased with the increasing salinity level and the highest values were obtained from 12 dS m^-1 in BRRI dhan40. At highest level of salinity, significantly better thousand grain weight (21.46 g) and grain yield hill^-1 (2.01 g) were given by Heera while BRRI dhan40 was the most adversely affected one among others.