Germination and seedling growth of Zea mays L. under different levels of sodium chloride stress

Salt stress is one of the most severe environmental factors that reduces and limits growth and development of plants. Abiotic stresses such as heavy metals, salinity, drought, temperature, UVradiation, ozone causes drastic yield reduction in most of the crops. Especially salt stress affects around 20 % of the world. s cultivated areas. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of NaCl on germination and seedling growth of Zea mays L. Seeds of Zea mays were germinated in glass Petri-dishes of 100 x 15 mm diameter lined with blotting paper. Ten seeds were placed in each petri-dish. Petridishes were irrigated with 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175 and 200 mM concentrations of NaCl. A control was moistened with ten milliliters of distilled water. The germination percentage, water absorption of the seeds, water uptake percentage and the growth parameters were observed. The results obtained showed that the inhibition of the germination percentage, germination rate, water uptake, growth and biomass accumulation of the seedlings were observed to decrease with increasing NaCl concentrations. At the highest level of stress both plumule and radical decreased significantly. The salt stress decreased seed germination, biomass and growth of maize seedlings due to ion toxicity, decrease osmotic potential and oxidative stress.