Effects of salinity on germination, growth and yield of five groundnut genotypes

The effects of salinity on germination, growth and yield parameters as well as phenotypic variance and heritability of five groundnut genotypes (Ex-Dakar, RRB 12, RMP 12, RMP 91 and Esan Local) were investigated. Saline treatments were imposed by irrigating the seeds and plants with varying concentrations of brackish water having electrical conductivities of 0.015, 1.50, 2.60, 4.68, 8.90 and 17.0 mS/cm. The results revealed that salinity significantly delayed germination and also reduced the final percentages at electrical conductivities greater than 2.60 mS/cm. Seedling emergence, radicle elongation, plant height and dry matter weight also tended to decrease with increasing salinity. Agronomic characters such as number of leaves/plant and number of branches/plant were significantly reduced with salinities higher than 2.60 mS/cm. The genotypes under study proved more salt tolerant during the germination than during the vegetative stage of growth and the result identified Esan-Local, Ex-Dakar and RRB 12 as being more salt tolerant than the other genotypes under study. Treated plants maintained high heritability and genetic advance values in characters such as 100 seed weight, pods/plant and seeds/pod, indicating that the characters under study were controlled by additive genes and could be improved by selection. Thus salt tolerant traits from the tolerant genotypes (Esan-Local, RRB 12 and Ex-Dakar) could be a source for developing salt tolerant variants in groundnut.