relationships among grain yield, transpiration rate and stomatal length in seven corn cultivars under salt stress condition

salt stress is a factor limiting crop growth and productivity around the world. developing salt tolerant cultivars using desired plant features has been considered as a way to cope with the problem. in this study, a factorial experiment was used in order to determine the effects of salt stress on stomatal length at abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces, relative water content (rwc) and transpiration rate (tr) under controlled condition. in another experiment yield performance (gy) of the same hybrids was evaluated in a split-plot experiment under field growing condition. both experiments were based on a rcbd with 3 replications and conducted at the faculty of agriculture, shahid bahonar university of kerman in 2011. results showed that salt stress and hybrid have significant effects on all plant characteristics. generally, all plant characteristics were decreased by increasing salt stress level. significant correlation coefficients were found between tr and gy and also rwc and gy. results also showed that the hybrid sc-704 has the highest levels of rwc and gy under salt stress conditions compared to the others indicating that it can be considered as a salt tolerant one.