Determination of threshold and screening for salt tolerance in jute

Three leading varieties of jute (two of C. olitoriusviz., JRO 524 and JRO 8432 and one of C. capsularis namely, JRC 321) were used for determination of salinity tolerance threshold and 34 C. capsularis germplasm were screened for salinity tolerance. The experiment was carried out in CRD with three replications and five treatments [control (double distilled water), 100 mM NaCl, 200 mM NaCl, 250 mM NaCI & 300 mM NaCl)]. JRC 321 was found to be more tolerant to salinity stress as compared to C. olitorius varieties (JRO 8432 and JRO 524), since it recorded better germination, shoot and root growth at 250 mM. So, 250 mM was fixed as threshold concentration for screening of C. capsularis whereas, 200 mM was fixed as threshold concentration for C. olitorius.C. capsularis accessions viz., CIN-007, CIN-571, JRC-517 and UPC-94 were found to be moderately tolerant to salinity stress at germination level.