Biostress Research Laboratory, The Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus-84993, Israel
*Corresponding author: Deptt. of Plant Science, Facility of Applied Sciences, Rohilkhand University, Bareilly - 243 006
An experiment was conducted to investigate the relative effects of nutrition with two N forms i.e., nitrate and ammonium on growth and mineral status of alflafa plants raised with or without salinity. Imposition of salinity stress (100 mM NaCl) inhibited the growth, total N content and all ions except sodium, chloride and phosphorous which increased in plants grown under greenhouse conditions. On the other hand, plants exhibited a substantial rise in above parameters in response to nitrate or ammonium N when supplied alongwith nutrient solution. Although, the effect of two N forms was variable depending on the respective concentrations, ammonium proved toxic at higher concentration. Nitrogen nutrition ameliorated the deleterious effects of salinity to a considerable extent. The interaction between salinity and N forms and concentrations was determining factor in alleviation of salinity effects, atleast in part, in alfalfa plants.
