Morpho-Physiological Responses of Grass Pea (Lathyrus Sativus L.) Genotypes to Salt Stress at Germination Seedling Stages

Response of eight different grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) genotypes to salinity (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl)-induced stress was studied at both germination and seedling growth stages. Among the genotypes, significant decrease in germination, dry weight, K content and accumulation of Na occurred in HL and LSP-1 from 100 mM and in BioR-231, BioR-202 and BioL-203 from 150 mM treatment. In contrast, nearly normal growth and dry weight in ML, B1 and BioL-212 even at 200 mM treatment might be attributed to maintenance of normal cellular equilibrium of K⁺/Na⁺ ratio and leaf photosynthetic pigments at elevated treatment level. This resulted in better tolerance of these three genotypes to high salt stress than the other five genotypes. On the basis of the performance, the treatment of 150 mM NaCl was detected as critical to most of the grass pea genotypes under salt stress.