Alleviating the Detrimental Effects of Salinity Stress by Application of Potassium: Growth, Yield and Photosynthetic Parameters of Mung bean (Vigna radiata) (L.) Wilczek

Among all the abiotic factors, salinity stress is one of the most harmful and it severely limits crop productivity. Potassium is considered as one of the exogenous protectants which may alleviate the harmful effects of salinity stress. To attain the stated goals, pot experiments were conducted with primary aims to estimate the negative impact of salinity stress in mung bean and to mitigate the effects of salinity stress using potassium. The response to the combination of salinity stress in mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) grown under net house conditions with three levels of application of potassium (0.24g, 0.40g and 0.48g) was studied. Salinity stress decreased various growth parameters (plant height, shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight of root and shoot and leaf area), yield parameters (no. of pods/plant, no. of seeds/pod, weight of seeds and pods) and photosynthetic parameters (Chlorophyll content and carotenoid content). Potassium application alleviates the detrimental effects of salinity even in highest level of NaCl (100mM). Therefore, mung bean (Vigna radiata MH-1142) can be grown successfully at salt stress with application of 0.48 g of KNO3.