Screening for tolerance to salinity: a case study with seven rice varieties from Africa rice center and Ghana

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2012
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An experiment was performed at the Soil Research Institute, Kwadaso, Kumasi- Ghana, to test the response of seven rice varieties from Ghana and Africa Rice Center to two levels of salinity in order to classify tolerant varieties. The soil used was silty-loam, classified as Feric acrisol, (FAO, 1990) from the arboretum at Soil Research Institute, Kwadaso, Kumasi, in the semi-deciduous forest agro-ecological zone of Ghana. Seeds were pre-germinated and two seedlings sown in pot filled with air-dry soil irrigated with water containing 0, 3 and 6 dsm-1 concentrations of sodium chloride respectively. Three indices were used to identify the tolerant rice varieties. They were (1) subjective index, (2) percent relative reduction and (3) salinity susceptibility index. Relative water content, shoot mass, plant height, root mass, flag leaf width and length were adversely affected by salinity. The 100-grain mass, spikelet fertility, number of filled grain, number of tillers and number of productive tillers were significantly (p < 0.01) decreased with increase in salinity levels. Salinity stress decreased yield components by 14 % to 91 % at low salinity level and 93 % to 100 % at high salinity level for all the varieties. Salinity stress also affected the mineral content of leaves with increase in both potassium and sodium uptake. The concentration of calcium and magnesium was reduced under salt stress. There were low water potentials in all the treatment pots which were evident by the reduction in plant relative water content. Among the rice varieties ITA 324, WITA 9 and BOUAKE 189 showed better performance under salinity stress and were therefore considered tolerant.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Agronomy (Plant Breeding),
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