Screening of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) ecotypes from Azarbayjan region for salinity stress tolerance

Abstract

Salinity of soil is one of the most important limiting factors for crop production. An experiment was conducted to screen alfalfa ecotypes (landraces) for tolerance to salinity (EC=4.59 dS m-1) stress during 2018 and 2019. Twenty plants of each experimental unit were removed and divided into leaves and stem. Fresh and dry forage yield, number of nodes of stems and leaf area were measured. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the ecotypes for all the studied traits under salinity stress. The traits studied showed high genetic variability among the landrace for different traits. Comparisons of mean for fresh and dry forage yield indicated that ecotype, Qarayonjeh was significantly different than other ecotypes. Results also showed that Qarayonjeh had higher tolerance to salinity stress, whereas, Bahraman and Khajeh and Leghlan were selected as semi- tolerant ecotypes for salinity stress. The findings may be useful for farmers as well as in breeding suitable genotypes of alfalfa for salinity stress tolerance.