Rangeland Ecology & Management

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IDENTIFYING AND CHARACTERIZING OF SALT-TOLERANT ALFALFA (MEDICAGO SATIVA SUBSP. FALCATA) GERMPLASM
Author
Frerichs, Katelin
Xu, Lan
Boe, Arvid
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

Soil salinity limits plant growth and crop production. More than 20% of cultivated land worldwide is affected by salinity, particularly in arid/semiarid regions. The situation is becoming more severe due to shifts in precipitation and evaporation pattern and improper irritation. There is an urgent need to develop salt-tolerance economically valuable plants to minimize the loss and sustain agriculture production. Alfalfa is one of the most extensively cultivated forage crops. Some yellow-flowered alfalfa (Medicago sativa subsp. falcata) have exhibited morphological and physiological drought tolerance. Since soil salinity associated with physiological drought, it is reasonable to expect these drought tolerant falcata populations could be used for selecting potential parent materials for breeding salt-tolerant cultivars. The objectives of this study are to identify potential parent materials from the USDA Plant Introduction (PI) Collection and naturalized populations for breeding salt-tolerant alfalfa cultivars by characterizing variations their germination rate, seedling survival, growth, and biomass. Uniform seeds from eleven alfalfa populations were selected, stratified, and inoculated with rhizobium before seeding in plastic trays (54-cm by 27-cm by 6-cm) filled with pre-mixed salt-affected soil. Populations were consisted of five of falcata PIs, four predominately falcata (three of them are experimental populations developed from SDSU one cultivar, and one from commercial), and one conventional-hay type (Persist II) as control.� Trays were maintained in a greenhouse with 24�3�C and 16 hours light/8 hours dark photoperiod cycle. Soil was maintained at its field capacity through daily misting. Twenty-five seeds of each population were seeded in 5 row per tray with 6 trays (n=6 replications). Seedlings were thinned, maintaining ten seedlings per tray after germination. Germination rate, survival, biomass, and soil salinity were measured at the end of 8 weeks. Data were analyzed to evaluate salt-tolerance variations among germplasms.� The results will provide useful information for reclamation of saline-soil.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV