Journal of Plant Process and Function

Chiko is an important tree fruit crop growing under semi-arid conditions. Kherol is mainly used as a rootstock for sapota which has seed germination problem. The shortage of irrigation water is one of the most important factors limiting agricultural production in arid and semi-arid areas. Irrigation with several dilutions of seawater can act as replacement water resource. Extensive studies have been conducted over the decades to evaluate the possibility of using diluted seawater for irrigation of sapota rootstock. A pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using different concentrations of seawater (3, 6, 9, 12 ds/m) on the one-old age seedling and fresh water used as control. Vegetative growth, physiological and biochemical changes of kherol (Manilkara hexandra) seedling as the rootstock of Chiko was studied. Analysis result showed that no significant differences were found in different length of root and stem. The number of leaf, leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight of leaf to root ratio, water in leaf, stem and root, decreased by increasing salinity. Photosynthetic pigments of seedling decreased significantly by increasing seawater concentration. Malondialdehyde increased significantly by increasing salinity. Generally, growth factors of one year seedling of kherol decreased at stability higher of 3 ds/m.