The relationship between some physiological traits and salt tolerance in Pistachio genotypes

To determine the relative salt tolerance and/or resistance in seedlings of pistachio genotypes, four pot experimentswere conducted. In experiments 1 and 2, the effects of salinity on growth indices were studid. Experiments were donein the form of split plot based on RCBD. In each experiment, mainplots consisted of different electrical conductivitiesof irrigation water (ECiws). In experiment 1, the seedlings of seven cultivars (cvs.) of Pistacia vera L. (Momtaz,Akbari, Kale-ghoochi, Owhadi, Ahmad-aghai, Sarakhs, Badami-riz) and also P. atlantica sub. Mutica (Baneh) wereallocated in subplots. In the second experiment, three cvs. of P. vera L. (Badami-riz,Momtaz and Owhadi) withdifferent salt tolerances were used. In order to determine the resistance of pistachio cvs. in respect to seedlingssurvival, experiment 3 was done. In experiment 3, salinity treatments continued upto 70% of leaf damaging inseedlings. In experiment 4, the effects of salinity on pistachio seedlings in regards to chlorophyll-meter figures andproline contents studied. Nevertheless, the ratio of damaged leaves, K/Na ratio and total dry weight was determined.In experiment 4, the relationship between some physiological traits and salt tolerance in pistachio genotypesdetermined. We observed that not only salt tolerance varies cv. to cv., but also it changes in different sources of agiven cv. In order to determine the salt tolerance of pistachio genotypes, the sensible traits (relative percent of totaldry weight and seedlings survival) were more reliable than traits such as K/Na ratio, chlorophyll meter figure, and/ora single physiological character as same as leaf proline content.