Growth and Mineral Nutrition in Salt Stressed Guava (Psidium guajava L. cv. Allahabad Safeda)

Guava cv. Allahabad Safeda was grown in saline soils and irrigated with the best available water -1-1+-1(EC 2.8 dS m). Based on chemical composition (pH- 7.1, EC- 2.8 dS m, Na- 20.04 meq l and IWIWsodium adsorption ratio- 4.86), irrigation water was categorized as marginally saline. The soil pH2-1was mostly below 8.5 but mean electrical conductivity (EC) values ranged from 0.5-2 dS m2indicating moderate to high salinity in the experimental soil. After one-year of experimentation, five plants randomly selected from each treatment and the data were recorded. Plant height -1-1significantly increased (LSD 5%) with increase in salinity from 0.5 dS mto 1.4 dS m. Asimilar -1trend was noted with respect to stem girth. The average plant height at 0.5, 0.9 and 1.4 dS msalinity levels was 98.3 cm, 108.3 cm and 123 cm, respectively whereas the corresponding stem girth values -1 were 2.24 cm, 2.28 cm and 2.46 cm. At 2 dS msalinity,however, both average plant height (94.6 cm) and stem girth (2.24 cm) significantly decreased and were found to be comparable to control (0.5 dS -1+-1 m) values. Plants showed negligible Naaccumulation in leaves up to 1.4 dS msalinity, but -1+ exposure to elevated salinity (2 dS m) significantly increased leaf Na(0.16% DW). These data -1 indicated a salinity tolerance (EC)threshold of about 1.5 dS minguava cultivar Allahabad Safeda