Studies on salt stress effect on germination of foxtail millet

Foxtail millet (Navane) is an important minor millet which is neglected and consumption has been reduced. It is nutritious millet. It is tolerant to drought and salt. It is free from major pests and diseases and its cultivable area has been reduced. Soil salinity is one of the main important constraints for agricultural production, are being spoiled to the greater extent by accumulation of salts in high concentration with irrigation systems for crop production. The physiological toxic effects of salt stress include decreased germination and seedling growth, reduced leaf expansion which causes a reduction in the photosynthetic area and dry matter production. To study the effect of different concentrations of salt stress on germination of foxtail millet a laboratory experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture, Raichur. The experiment included two varieties Srilakshmi and HMT 100 -1 of foxtail millet and ten salt (NaCl) concentrations 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0% and one control (0%). The experiment was replicated twice. 25 seeds were kept in a petridish containing filter paper dipped in different salt concentrations. Germination was observed from the next day onwards. The germinated seeds were counted every two days interval up to 10th day of sowing. At 10th day, shoot length and root length were measured and the germination percentage was worked out. The data was subjected to statistical analysis according to the two factor complete block design. The significant differences were observed for concentration for all the three characters and variety for shoot length and germination percentage and variety and concentration interaction was significant for only germination percentage. Among concentrations, there was no significant difference from control up to 0.4% NaCl salt concentrations, which indicates that foxtail millet crop can performs better up to NaCl salt concentrations of 0.4%. Among the two varieties, variety HMT 100-1 showed better germination percentage as compared to the variety Sri lakshmi.