Abstract
The effect of KCl and CaCl2 applications on the salt tolerance of S.herbacea plants was studied. The seedlings of S.herbacea were cultivated in 3% NaCl and 10% NaCl, 10% NaCl+KCl (K300, 500 and 1, 000 ppm) or +CaCl2 (Ca300, 500 and 1, 000 ppm) solutions for 2 months. The S. herbacea plants treated with 3% NaCl showed the highest growth rate of all the treatments, which NaCl inhibited S. herbacea growth remarkably in the 10% NaCl treatment, in which the lowest growth rate was recorded during the experimental period. The growth increment of shoot was higher in the K treatments which inhibited Na accumulation in 10% NaCl. After 2 months, the plants in the Ca 1, 000 ppm treatments grew better than those in the 10% NaCl treatment. Consequently it was concluded that CaCl2 affected the growth of S. herbacea plants under high salinity treatments (10% NaCl) and the salt tolerance of S. herbacea was also affected by CaCl2 application.
It was estimated that the K treatment induced a the more rapid response to the salt tolerance of S. herbacea than the Ca treatment, and the salt tolerance under a high salinity environment could be enhanced by the Ca treatment or a concentration of more than 1, 000 ppm.
