Tolerance of chloride and sulphate salinity in chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

Abstract

Chickpea is the most important pulse crop of the arid and semi-arid areas. In India, it is cultivated during winter, depending on soil moisture stored from the preceding summer rain, which is often inadequate to ensure a satisfactory crop.In most such areas, saline ground water is the only source of supplementary irrigation to which chickpea, like other pulses, is highly sensitive (Maas & Hoffman 1977). Field observations indicate (Manchanda et al. 1981) that chickpea is more sensitive to chloridedominated than to sulphate-dominated saline water irrigation. Since most saline ground water and saline soils are dominated by chloride or sulphate salts, this study evaluated the effects of these salts on the yield and mineral composition of chickpea at different electrical conductivities. (EC e ). MATERIALS AND METHODSIn a greenhouse study, the chickpea cultivars H355 and H208, recommended for irrigated and dry land conditions, respectively, were grown to maturity in a sandy soil (Typic Torripsamments) at five EC e values ranging from 1-8 to 80 dS/m, dominated by either chloride (C1:SO 4 = 7:3) or sulphate (C1:SO 4 = 3:7) salts of Na, Ca and Mg (4:1:3). The soil was noncalcareous and nongypsiferous, and had an initial EC,, = 0-8 dS/m, pH 1:2 = 8-2, organic C = 006%, saturation moisture = 25 % by weight and cation exchange capacity 30 mmol( + )/kg soil. The respective EC C values were attained before sowing by adding solutions of salts on an equivalent-weight basis. Thus, each chloride-and sulphate-dominated irrigation treatment had a range of six values, including a control. Each treatment was completely randomized, with three replications. The resulting EC e and osmotic potential determined just before sowing are given in Table 1. The C1:SO 4 ratio of the added solutions and that of saturation extracts were similar.Before adding the salts, a uniform solution of nutrients (N, P, K, S, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe at 25, 50, 75, 20, 2-5, 1, 5 and 10 mg/kg, respectively, of the airdried soil) was added to and thoroughly mixed in the soil, before imposing the salinity treatments. After equilibrating the salinity treatments for 4 days, ten seeds of each cultivar were sown per pot in the middle of October and thinned to six plants/pot 2 weeks after sowing. When water stress was observed in the plants, the pots were irrigated alternately from above and below (through a centrally embedded plastic feeder tube), using 400 ml distilled water each time, equal to field capacity.Mineral analysis for half the number of plants in each pot was carried out at flower initiation (3 months old); dry matter content and seed yield were recorded for the rest at maturity. The plants were analysed for Cl, Na, Ca, Mg, N, P and K contents. Chloride contents were determined in plant extracts in 0-5 M H N O 3 + 0-5M KNO 3 , after decolorizing with charcoal, adjusting the pH of the extract to 8-2 with NaOH solution and then titrating against AgNO 3 (Chhabra et al. 1976). Other plant constituents and EC e , Cl and SO 4 in soil saturation extracts were determin...

Subsoil constraints in Vertosols: crop water use, nutrient concentration, and grain yields of bread wheat, durum wheat, barley, chickpea, and canola

“…This concentration of Cl reported for toxicity in the present study was similar to the >0.56 mM Cl/g for wheat (Chauhan and Chauhan 1985) and 0.45 mM Cl/g for chickpea reported previously (Reuter et al 1997), but was much lower than the 1.4 mM Cl/g reported for phytotoxicity in chickpea with almost no seed yield (Manchanda and Sharma 1989).…”

Salinity–mineral nutrient relations in horticultural crops

“…However, plant species may differ in response to each of these salinising systems. Although the K content of chickpea, Cicer arietinum L. (Manchanda and Sharma, 1989;Manchanda et al, 1991) and pea (Mor and Manchanda, 1992) decreased significantly regardless of salinity type, shoots grown in the SO 2À 4 system contained more K than in the Cl À system. These investigators observed that Ca 2 uptake was greater from a Cl-dominated substrate compared to the sulphate system, and speculated that enhanced Ca 2 levels had adverse effects on K absorption.…”

“…Rather these studies were directed more towards how the plant responds to sulphate-salinity as compared to chloride-salinity. Differences in crop response to chloride and sulphate salinity have measured in terms of identical electrical conductivities (Manchanda and Sharma, 1989;Mor and Manchanda, 1992;Awada et al, 1995) molar or equivalent basis (Bilski et al, 1988a, b;Blom-Zandstra and Lampe, 1983;Muralitharan et al, 1992;Wright et al, 1992;Walker et al, 1993) or isoosmotic potentials (Abd El-Samad and Shaddad, 1996;Cramer and Spurr, 1986a;Lauter and Munns, 1986;Meiri et al, 1971). Whether or not differences in plant response are found between chloride and sulphate salinity may depend on the salinity indices chosen (Kafkafi, 1984).…”

The Effects of Cation Ratios on Root Lamella Suberization in Rice (Oryza sativaL.) with Contrasting Salt Tolerance

“…For instance, the K + content of chickpea and pea shoot was greater in the SO 4 2− system than in the Cl − system. In contrast, Ca 2+ uptake was greater from a Cl − -dominated solution compared to SO 4 2− system [14][15][16]. The balance of nutrients (K + , Ca 2+ , and Mg 2+ ) is compulsory for the biochemical components or cytosolic enzymes activities [17] or cell membrane potential rectification [18,19].…”