COTTON’S RESPONSE TO SALINITY STRESS: EXPLORING SODIUM AND POTASSIUM SALT EFFECTS ON GERMINATION AND VIGOR

This study was conducted in 2022 under laboratory conditions (25C) with the registered cotton variety MAY-455, with the collaboration of Gaziantep University, Nurdagi Vocational School, and Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Goksun Vocational School.The study involved two different types of salts (NaCl and KCl) and seven different salt concentrations (control, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 mM).The evaluated parameters included radicle length, germination rate, germination index, mean germination time, germination speed coefficient, and seed vigor index.The statistical analysis revealed significant differences in these parameters with respect to salt concentrations (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 mM).However, differences between the types of salts (NaCl and KCl) were statistically significant for germination index and hypocotyl length.Results from this laboratory study indicate that increasing salt concentrations (0,20,40,60, 80, 100, and 120 mM) led to a decrease in radicle length, hypocotyl length, germination rate, germination index, germination speed coefficient, and seed vigor index, while mean germination time increased.Although cotton is relatively salt-tolerant, high salt concentrations negatively affected the germination of cotton seeds.Taking both NaCl and KCl salts into consideration, the dose-effect analysis with natural logarithmic transformation revealed that using higher salt concentrations would further increase the rate of seeds failing to germinate.