Salinity continues to be one of the world’s most serious environmental problems in agriculture. The increasing world population and urbanization are forcing farmers to utilize marginal lands as well as poor quality water. One of the strategies in dealing with salinity is growing salt tolerant plants and there has been increased need to understand the effects of salinity on crops. Owing to its high nutritive value and wide adaptability to diverse environments, amaranth is considered a promising crop for marginal lands and semiarid regions. The objective of the study was to investigate the response of amaranth to salinity stress and evaluate stress amelioration by calcium and seed priming. Salinity tolerance during germination and early seedling growth was examined for six genotypes of amaranth (Amaranthus species) at different salt concentrations ranging from 0 to 200 mM NaCl or Na2SO4. Enhancement of germination was observed at 25 mM, while increasing salt concentrations reduced the germination percentage as well as germination rate. A.tricolor and Accession ’83 were able to germinate in 200 mM NaCl while there was no germination at 200 mM Na2SO4 in all the genotypes. Overall, Accession ’83 was the most resistant and A. hybridus the most sensitive genotype, particularly at high salt concentrations. Inhibition of germination was greater in Na2SO4 than in NaCl salinity treatments. Amaranth was more salt tolerant at germination than at seedling growth. Seedling emergence, survival and growth were reduced by salinity and at much lower concentrations than at seed germination. Differences in salt tolerance were noted among the genotypes. Salinity stress was initiated at different growth stages (cotyledon stage, 2-leaf stage and 4-leaf stage) in order to determine whether tolerance of amaranth differs with the stage of development. The treatment either continued until termination of the experiment or for 14 days at each stage. Amaranth plants were less sensitive to salinity when the stress was initiated at the 4-leaf stage. Lower salt concentrations had less detrimental effects than higher concentrations when applied at the cotyledon stage. Application of low salt concentration at cotyledon stage for 14 days did not have any effect on plant growth. The results indicate that it is feasible to use saline water for growing amaranth with minimum yield losses if salt concentration, duration of exposure and time of salinization are carefully managed. Differences in salinity tolerance among amaranth genotypes were analyzed in terms of plant survival, growth, gas exchange, water use and leaf anatomical changes. A. hypochondriacus and A. cruentus showed greater tolerance to salinity since they survived in 200 mM NaCl treatment and the reduction in growth at 50 and 100 mM was lower than that of A. tricolor and Accession ’83. A. hypochondriacus and A. cruentus were more efficient water users and partitioned photosynthates towards shoot growth as opposed to the other two genotypes. Photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, stomatal density and apertures were reduced by salinity but were higher in A. tricolor than in A. cruentus. Salinity resulted in A. cruentus developing thicker leaves compared to A. tricolor. Productivity on saline soils can be increased by growing genotypes more tolerant to salinity. The interactive effect of salinity and water stress on amaranth plant growth was evaluated. It was found that the reduction in shoot growth was greater in plants submitted to water stress than in those submitted to salt or salt + water stress. Water use efficiency was increased while leaf water and osmotic potentials were reduced by the salinity stress treatments. In drying soil plants previously salinized had a greater degree of osmotic adjustment, so that plants were able to continue growth for a longer period compared to water stressed plants. The effect of calcium in ameliorating salt stress was investigated. Supplementary calcium, either as CaSO4 or CaCl2 ameliorated the negative effects of salinity on growth, gas exchange, membrane permeability and mineral uptake. In a separate experiment it was shown that it is feasible to mitigate the adverse effects of salinity on amaranth seed germination, seedling survival and growth by seed priming and that the positive effect of priming persisted to vegetative growth stage. Priming with CaSO4 + NaCl showed a greater positive response than priming with the individual salts. / Thesis (PhD (Plant Production andSoil Science))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

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