EFFECT OF SALINITY ON MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Botany experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University during the period from November 2016 to February 2017 to investigate the effects of salinity on morphophysiological and

yield contributing characters of potato (Solanum tuberosum L). The experimental treatments were consisted of nine different level of salinity viz. T 0 = without salt (control), T 1 = 2 dS/m, T 2 = 4 dS/m, T 3 = 6 dS/m, T 4 = 8 dS/m, T 5 = 10 dS/m, T 6 = 12 dS/m, T 7 = 14 dS/m and T 8 = 16 dS/m. The variety Diamond (BARI ALU-7) was used as planting material. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 3 replications. The highest plant height (38.04cm), highest number of leaves/plant (21.23), maximum no. of branch/plant (9.27), highest chlorophyll content (2.64 mgg -1 ), highest

SPAD value (55.60), highest proline accumulation (16.12 µ mol -1 FW), highest leaf area (21.74 cm 2 ), maximum no. of tuber/plant (8.67) and maximum tuber dry weight (11.62% ) were found in T 0 (control) treatment and the lowest value was in T 8 (16 dS/m) treatment. The highest membrane stability (93.51 %) was obtained from T 8 treatment and the lowest (52.29%) was observed in T 0 (control) treatment. The highest tuber yield was 379.13 gm in control plant which was satistically similar with T 1 and the lowest yield was 89.24 gm in T 8 (16 dS/m) which was satistically similar with T 7 . The highest to lowest value gradually decreased from T 0 treatment. Finally, it may be concluded that, the decreased of yield was observed to cultivate under saline water (≤8 ds/m) treatment from T 0 Hence the variety may be used for the cultivation in the southern part of Bangladesh where salinity level is upto 8 dS/m.