Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
National Salinity Research Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Yazd, Iran
2
Biology Department, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
3
Agronomy and Horticulture Department, National Salinity Research Center, Research, Education and Extension Organization, Yazd, Iran
4
National Salinity Research Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Yazd, Iran
10.22092/ijsr.2025.369218.774
Abstract
The increasing trend of salinity in water and soil resources has made it important to identify medicinal plants that are tolerant to salinity for the utilization of saline soil and water resources. This study was conducted in four separate experiments to evaluate the salinity tolerance of the medicinal plant fenugreek and the changes in its threshold of tolerance to salinity at different growth stages (germination, emergence, vegetative growth, reproductive growth). In the laboratory, the salinity tolerance of fenugreek was studied at ten salinity levels (control, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 dS/m). In the greenhouse, the fenugreek salinity tolerance was studied at seven salinity levels (0.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 dS/m) during the emergance stage and at seven salinity levels (0.5, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 dS/m) during the vegetative and reproductive growth stages. The experiment was conducted in the form of randomized complete block design with three replications. In this research, some empirical models (linear, sigmoidal, exponential, and multicomponent models) were used. Results showed that the salinity tolerance of fenugreek changed during different growth stages as fenugreek had the highest tolerance to salinity at the germination stage. At germination stage, the threshold of salinity tolerance was 20.32 dS/m and the germination reduction slope was 10.37 percent for the Isfahani variety; however, this tolerance gradually decreases in the later growth stages; so that fenugreek showed lower tolerance to salinity at the emergance stage compared to the germination stage (the salt threshold of 4.9 dS/m with a reduction slope of 25.7 percent). In the vegetative growth stage, the salt tolerance of fenugreek decreased, so that its threshold tolerance to salinity at this stage was 1.28 dS/m with a yield reduction slope of 4.9%. Fenugreek showed the least tolerance to salinity at the seed ripening stage. At the seed ripening stage, the threshold of salinity tolerance of fenugreek was 1.30 dS/m with a yield reduction slope of 64.8%. According to nonlinear models, the corresponding salinity values at which yield is reduced by 50% (EC50) for the Isfahan fenugreek population at the germination, emergence, vegetative growth and seed ripening stages were 25.81 dS/m, 11.47 dS/m, 11.67 dS/m, and 6.51 dS/m, respectively. Therefore, in areas with different sources of water quality, they can be used to irrigate fenugreek with saline water in the early stages of growth and gradually with higher quality water in the later stages of growth.
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