EVALUATION OF SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF THREE VEGETABLE CROPS UNDER DIFFERENT SALINITY

An experiment was conducted in 2abiotech Lab of Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during April 2016 to May 2016 to evaluate the effect of salinity on germination and seedling growth of three vegetable crops. Seeds of three vegetable crops, viz., Tomato (Ratan), Brinjal (SAU long Brinjal), Chilli (Chaitali) were used in this experiment and different NaCl saline concentration, viz., S_C= Control, S_4dS= 4dS, S_8dS= 8dS, S_12dS= 12dS, S_16dS= 16dS, was used as treatment in this experiment arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. All the studied parameters were affected by increasing salinity level. Germination percentage, shoot and root length, shoot and root length ratio and fresh weight of root and shoot all fell drastically with increasing saline concentration whereas the best results were obtained from control treatment. So, salinity is an important factor that needs to be considered during seedling production.