Effects of salt stress on seed germination and emergence of different oats varieties

Culture and field experiments were individually used to study the effect of 50250 mmol/L NaCl stress on the seed germination and the condition of emergence and seedling growth for oats varieties, in order to supply the theoretic basic for the evaluation and selection of salt tolerance in oat germplasm resources. The results indicated that the germination percentage, germination index and vigor index decreased greatly with the increase of salt concentration under 50250 mmol/L NaCl stress, in which the vigor index was most sensitive to salt stress. The germination percentage, germination index and vigor index of M2002 and Baiyan No.6 decreased more slowly with the increase of salt concentration compared with the V2006 and Neisan No.2. NaCl stress inhibited both the growth of roots and sprouts during the germination stage of oats, and the inhibition effect to roots was greater than that to sprouts. The root amount of oat was promoted under 50100 mmol/L NaCl concentration, but it was decreased when NaCl concentration over 150 mmol/L. The emergence percentage and dry matter amount in 4 oats varieties seedling had significant difference, in which the emergence percentage and dry matter amount of M2002 and Baiyan 6 significantly higher than the V2006 and Neisan 2.