Effect of Different Levels of Salinity on Morpho-Physiological Traits of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Varieties Relation with Grain Yield

A pot experiment was conducted at the Net House of Department of Crop Physiology at Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Kumarganj, Faizabad during Kharif season in year 2011-12 and 2012-13 to investigate the effect of different levels of salinity on morphological and physiological traits of rice associated with salinity tolerance. Four rice variety viz. Pokkali, Narendra Ushar Dhan 3, IR 28 and IR 29 were grown in various salinity levels i. e. normal soil, EC 6.0 and 10.0 dSm-1 three seedling of 21 days old were transplanted. Results indicated that morpho-physiological characters such as plant height, number of tillers, dry biomass, chlorophyll, carbohydrate, catalase activity, seed yield per plant, and mineral ions in shoots, such as potassium and calcium were decreased with gradual increasing of salinity levels, whereas, sodium content in shoot was increased with increased respective salinity level in rice varieties. The lowest values of them were observed at EC 10.0 dSm-1. Generally rice varieties having the ability to exclude Na+ from shoot were found salt tolerant in respect of grain yield and in susceptible varieties vice-versa. Among the varieties, the yield loss due to salinity was less in Pokkali and Narendra Ushar Dhan 3 than in the IR 28 and IR 29. Pokkali and Narendra Ushar Dhan 3 had a greater tolerance to salinity than IR 28 and IR 29.