The effects of priming treatments on salt tolerance in melon seeds

Possibilities of using NaCl priming were investigated to increase salt tolerance of melon seeds (cvs. Hasanbey and Kirkagac) during germination. Priming treatments in seeds were conducted for 3 days at 20 degrees C by the use of various concentrations (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0%) of NaCl. The NaCl concentration of 1.0%, which did not show any difference compared with control due to total germination and mean germination time parameters, was determined as the optimum dose for priming treatments conducted in melon seeds. Then, seeds primed with 1.0% NaCl were taken to germination tests with different NaCl concentrations (0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0%). Beside the results of total germination and mean germination time, the results of tolerance ratio and tolerance index clearly showed that priming treatments affected the increase of salt resistance in both melon cultivars. Furthermore, it was concluded that cv. Kirkagac was more tolerant to salinity than cv. Hasanbey.