Evaluation of Sorghum for Salt Stress Tolerance Using Different Stages as Screening Tool in Raya Valley, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

አህፅሮት

የአፈር ጨዋማነት በሰብሎች ላይ አሉታዊ ተፅዕኖ በመፍጠር ምርትና ምርታማነትን እንዲቀንስ ያደርጋል፡፡ በመሆኑም በራያ ተፋሰስ ይህ መነሻ በማድረግ የአፈር ጨዋማነትን ተቋቁመው የተሻለ ምርትና ምርታማነት ሊሰጡ የሚችሉ  የማሽላ ዝርያዎችን ከተለያዩ ማሽላ ኣብቃይ ከሆኑ አከባቢዎች በመሰብሰብ  የተለያዩ የጨው መጠን  (0, 10, 15 and 20 dS m^-1) በመለካት በቤተ ጥናት ግሪንሃዉስ ተዘርቶ ከዚህ በማጣራት ደሞ ጨዋማ በሆነ መሬት ላይ በመዝራት ጨዋማነቱን በመም የተሻለ የመብቀል እና ምርት መስጠት የሚችሉ የማሽላ ዝርያዎች እንዲለዩ ተደርገዋል፡፡ ይህን የሚያመላክተዉ የአፈር ጨዋማነት እየጨመረ በሄደ ቁጥር የማሽላን የመብቀል አቅምና አጠቃላይ እድገቱን ይቀንሳል፡፡ በተመሳሳይ መልኩ የአፈር ጨዋማነት እየጨመረ በሄደ ቁጥር የማሽላን ምርትና ምርታማነቱን ይቀንሳል፡፡ ስለዚህ ሜኮ እና 76T1 ቁጥር 23 የተባሉ የማሽላ ዝርያዎች ለአከባቢው የአፈር ጨዋማነትን ተቋቁመው የተሻለ ምርትና ምርታማነትን ይጨምራሉ፡፡ በመሆኑም እነዚህን ሁለቱ የማሽላ ዝርያዎች ወደ ገበሬ ከመግባታቸው በፊት ሰፊ በሆኑ ማሳዎች ላይ ለገበሬዎች  የሰርቶ ማሳያ እና የማስተዋወቅ ስራ ሊሰራባቸው ይገባል፡፡   

 Abstract

Salinity is one of the major environmental problem that lead to deterioration of agricultural land and, as a result, to reduction in crop productivity. Evaluation of sorghum varieties/lines for salt tolerance were conducted with the objectives to evaluate and identify salinity stress tolerance and to determine the effect of salinity at different levels of NaCl in Raya valley, northern Ethiopia. The screening procedures were conducted at three stages; germination, seedling and field experiment through exposing to salt stress condition. Initially, 46 varieties/lines of sorghum were placed in Petri plates using 0 and 20 dS m^-1 level of NaCl and better performing were selected based on their total germination percentage and germination stress tolerance index. Then, control (0 dS m^-1) and three salinity levels (10, 15 and 20 dS m^-1) of NaCl were prepared at germination and seedling stages. Results indicated that, all investigated traits were affected by salt stress at germination and seedling stages. Similarly, soil salinity reduced yield and yield components of sorghum at field experiments. Both Meko and 76T1#23 were more yielded than the national average compared to the tested sorghum varieties in the two consecutive cropping seasons. Thus, Meko and 76T1#23 were promising varieties as indicated by all investigated traits and hence, recommended for yield and yield traits maximization Raya valley. Therefore, these varieties should be validated and demonstrated to more numbers of farmers in larger plots to recommend to extension users.