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Selecting salt tolerant rootstocks is a sustainable approach for developing fruit trees in salinity prone areas. 60-day-old seedlings of <em>Pistacia vera </em>‘Akbari’ and ‘Ghazvini’, and <em>P. vera</em> ‘Ghazvini’ × <em>P. atlantica </em>(G×A) were subjected to 0, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl in half strength Hoagland’s nutrient solution. After 45 days, the growth, water relations, and oxidative damage parameters were investigated. Salt stress reduced plant biomass, height, crown diameter and leaf number, but increased specific leaf area (SLA) of the seedlings. Under salt stress, the growth of ‘Akbari’ seedlings was higher than the other genotypes. Accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline was observed in the leaves of salt affected seedlings. ‘Ghazvini’ seedlings had the highest MDA concentration and the lowest cell membrane stability in their leaves. Degredation of photosynthetic pigments under salt stress was lower in the leaves of ‘Akbari’ seedlings than that in other genotypes. Increase in leaf succulence was observed in ‘Akbari’ and G×A seedlings in response to salt stress. Relative water content and concentration of anthocyanins in the leaves of pistachio genotypes remained unchanged under salt stress. The results revealed that monitoring leaf abscission, SLA, leaf succulence, MDA concentration, and photosynthetic pigments provide suitable contrast for screening salt tolerance in pistachio. Furthuremore, ‘Akbari’ was found to be the most salt tolerant genotype.

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