INFLUENCE OF SALINITY LEVELS ON SEED GERMINATION, GROWTH AND YIELD OF QUINOA (Chenopodium quinoa)

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the germination of quinoa seeds of two varieties and a pot experiment was conducted at the Agronomy net house of Sher-eBangla

Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from November 2017 to March 2018 to evaluate the influence of salinity levels on seed germination, growth and yield of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Two varieties of quinoa viz. V (Titicaca) and V 2 (Vikinga) and seven salinity levels viz. S 0 (control), S 1 (EC 5 dS/m), S (EC 10 dS/m),

S 3 (EC 15 dS/m), S 4 (EC 20 dS/m), S 5 (EC 25 dS/m) and S (EC 30 dS/m) were considered for the present experiment. The experiments consisting of 14 treatment combinations that was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (factorial) with three replications. Data on different growth parameters, yield components and yield of plants were recorded. The collected data were statistically analyzed. Number of branches plant -1 , number of inflorescence plant , length of inflorescence plant -1 , germination rate, 1000-seed weight, yield plant , husk weight plant -1 , straw weight plant -1 , biological yield plant -1 and harvest index were not significantly affected by variety. In case of salinity levels, number of branches plant was not significantly affected but rest of the studied parameters were significantly influenced by different salinity levels. Results showed that the highest germination rate (3.33 and 3.67 out of 4 seeds at 2 and 7 DAS, respectively), number of inflorescence plant -1 (12.0), length of inflorescence plant -1 (11.92 cm), 1000-seed weight (2.57 g), yield plant -1 (1.69 g), husk weight plant -1 1 (2.44 g) and biological yield plant -1 6 -1 -1 1 2 (0.91 g), straw weight plant (4.99 g) were found from the salinity level S

(EC 20 dS/m). Regarding combined effect of variety and salinity levels, all the parameters under the study was significantly affected. The highest germination rate (3.67 and 4.00 out of 4 seeds at 2 and 7 DAS, respectively), number of inflorescences plant -1 (12.3), length of inflorescence plant -1 (12.67 cm), 1000-seed weight (2.61 g), yield plant -1 (1.71 g), husk weight plant -1 (0.95 g), straw weight plant (2.66 g) and biological yield plant -1 (5.12 g) was found from the treatment combination of V . The lowest germination rate (1.67 and 2.67 out of 4 seeds at 2 and 7 DAS, respectively), number of inflorescence plant (4.00 cm), 1000-seed weight (2.00 g), yield plant -1 -1 (5.33), length of inflorescence plant -1 (1.12 g), husk weight plant (0.52 g), straw weight plant -1 (0.83 g) and biological yield plant -1 (3.04 g) were found from the treatment combination of V 2 S but the lowest harvest index (33.40%) was found from the treatment combination of V 6 2 S 4 . -1 1 S -1 4 4 -1