Response of eggplant varieties (Solanum melongena) to salinity in germination and seedling stages

Knowledge of salt tolerance in vegetable plants is necessary to increase productivity and profitability of crops irrigated with saline wastewaters. Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is moderately sensitive to salinity but more attention to salinity is required in the agricultural production of eggplant and its varieties. The objective of the present work was to investigate the response of some eggplant varieties to increasing salinity during the germination and seedling stages. Germination, length, and dry and fresh weight of radicle and hypocotyl, length and dry and fresh weight of root and shoot, number and area of leaves and sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions in seedling leaves, were the assayed parameters. Increasing salt stress (0: 50 100. and 150 mM NaCl) negatively affected growth and development of eggplant (S. melongena 'Kemer', 'Pala', and 'Aydin Siyahi') at the germination (percentage and period; length and fresh and dry weight of of radicle and hypcotyl) and seedling stages (length and fresh and dry weight of root, shoot, and whole plant; leaf number and area). When salt concentration increased, leaf Na+ content increased but K+ content and K+/Na+ ratio decreased. The response of varieties to salt was different depending on the growth stage, and salinity tolerance of cultivars increased at the later growth stages.