Effect of Sodium Chloride Salinity on Seed Germination and Early Seedling Growth of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Nipponbare (typical japonica type), Gorishita and Pangri (indica type; cultivated in the southern districts of Bangladesh) were compared with emphasis on seed germination and early seedling growth characters.Seeds were placed for germination and the seedlings were allowed to grow for 7 days at 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.06 and 0.1% NaCI concentrations in water culture and for 14 days at 0, 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0% NaCI concentrations in soil culture.Salinities up to 0.3% delayed germination but did not reduce final germination percentage; it was reduced significantly at $1.0% NaCI.Rice cultivars at the stage of seed germination were more tolerant to salinity than at the early seedling stage.Lower levels of salinity were not much inhibitory to the length, fresh and dry weights, reduction in moisture content of root and shoot but under higher levels of salinity, almost all these parameters were significantly affected in all cultivars.Among the cultivars, Nipponbare performed well by producing highest root length, fresh and dry weights of root and shoot, total dry matter and with a relatively high root:shoot length, fresh and dry weight.