The Effect of Soil Salinity on the Early Seedling Stage of Black eyed Peas

Inadequate and unbalanced nutrition is a significant problem today. The aim should be to prevent this by changing plant production methods. Black eyed peas is used as an important protein source in human nutrition. Black eyed peas is a legume that can adapt to adverse conditions and is resistant to hot and dry environments. Black eyed peas is a plant with low soil selectivity and high adaptability, yielding the best results in well-drained soils. Soil salinity, a critical global challenge in crop production, inhibits water uptake in plants, causes nutrient imbalances and has a negative effect on plant growth and yield by havinge an adverse effect on the microbial activity in soil. Therefore, determining the salinity tolerance of different species and varieties is of great importance in planning crop production in areas with salinity problems. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of different soil salinity levels on black eyed peas during the early seedling stage.

NaCl doses of 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 and 450 mM were applied when the black eyed pea plant were during the germination stage. The study was set up in a random full blocks trial design with 10 replicates and conducted as a pot experiment.

The study determined macro-mineral intake (ppm and %), relative water content (%), water holding capacity (%), tolerance index (%), nodule number (number per plant) and nodule weight (mg per plant). The variance analysis revealed statistically significant differences between salt doses in almost all of the examined traits and indicated that soil salinity had a negative impact on plant growth in general.