INFLUENCE OF SALT STRESS ON SEED GERMINATION, GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND YIELD OF THREE POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) VARIETIES

Abstract

In Ethiopia, salt affected soils are prevalent in the Rift Valley and lowland areas. Potatoes, which grow in different parts of Ethiopia, are salt sensitive. This experiment was conducted with the objective of screening potato varieties: namely Gabbissa, Chirro and Zemen for salt tolerance by the use of some agronomic traits such as days to seed germination, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, days to flowering, number of flowers per plant, root length, number of tubers per plant, tuber weight and plant biomass. Three potato varieties were subjected to four salinity levels (0, 60, 120, and 180mM) under greenhouse condition. The experimental design was completely randomized design with three replications. Results showed that salinity negatively affected all measured parameters in a concentration dependent manner. Comparison between the varieties showed that variety Gabbissa performed better than the two varieties, suggesting this variety is relatively salt tolerant. Whereas variety Chirro is moderately salt sensitive and variety Zemen is highly salt sensitive compared to the rest.