Salinity Stress Induced Biochemical Changes during Seed Germination of Maize Cultivars

In the present study the two maize cultivars were selected to examine the effect of salinity and the effect of GA 3 on the salinity stressed seeds, the tests were conducted in different conditions with different concentrations.Germination percentage, vigour index and seedling length, chlorophyll content, protein, total free amino acids, protease activity were investigated.GA 3 treatment and combination of GA 3 and NaCl increased the germination percentage, vigour index and seedling length in SNL cultivar and in MYMH cultivar these parameters were reduced.The chlorophyll content was more in both cultivars in control and either salinity or combinations of NaCl and GA 3 have no effect on the synthesis of chlorophyll pigment.Free amino acids, Protein and Protease activity were more in GA 3 200ppm concentration where as in other concentrations these were observed less.The GA 3 played salinity alleviating role and increased the chlorophyll content in the saline treated seeds.In SNL cultivars chlorophyll content was less affected when compared to the MYMH cultivar.Hence, the SNL cultivar in more tolerant compared to the MYMH cultivar.Keywords: Maize, NaCl, GA 3 , Germination percentage, Vigour index, Chlorophyll, Total free amino acids, protein and Protease activity.I. INTRODUCTION Maize, also known as corn is a large grain plant.The six major types of corn are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn.Maize is the third most important food grain in India after wheat and rice.In India, about 28% of maize produced is used for food purpose, about 11% as livestock feed, 48% as poultry feed, 12% in wet milling industry (for example starch and oil production) and 1% as seed (AICRP on Maize, 2007) .In the last one decade, it has registered the highest growth rate among all food grains including wheat and rice because of newly emerging food habits as well as enhanced industrial requirements.Maize is an important cereal in many developed and developing countries of the world.It is widely used for animal feed and industrial raw material in the developed countries where as the developing countries use it in general for feed.Among the cereal crops in India, maize with annual production of around 10 million tonnes covering 6 million hectares ranks fifth in area being next to rice, wheat, Jowar and Bajra, fourth production whereas in productivity it ranks third in position.Indian poultry sector has been growing at around 8-10 per cent annually over the last decade with broiler meat production estimated to increase from 0.8 Mt in 2000 to about 3.2 Mt in 2012 and egg production from 37 billion eggs to 66 billion eggs during the same period.Maize (Zea mays L.) is very valuable crop.Globally, it is ranked as third staple food crop after wheat and rice.Maize is a leading commercial crop of high agro-economic importance due to its use in agro-industries.Worldwide, total annual production of maize is 3.341 million tons.Maize is very sensitive to salinity (Maas, 1986) though it has been reported that maize has interspecies inconsistency of salinity resistance (Maas et al., 1983).