Archives of Current Research International

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that adversely affect crop quality and productivity. About 21.5 million ha of land area is salt-affected in Asia; with India having 8.6 million ha which is a major soil problem. Rice has been identified as salt susceptible especially during seedling stage. Salinity is detrimental to seed germination, seedling growth and vigor leading to reduction in yield. To overcome this, various plant growth regulators were tried for improving seed germination and seedling vigour in rice under salinity. The major outcome of this study was reduced seed germination percentage and seedling vigour under different levels of salinity stress compared to control. In case of gibberellic acid treatment, the higher germination percentage of 91 was observed in 50 ppm (T₃) while higher seedling root length of 3.30 cm was found in 100 ppm (T₄) and shoot length 6.30 cm was found in 300 ppm (T₆) at 12^th DAS. Higher vigour index was found in 200 ppm (T₅). In case of salicylic acid treatment, the higher germination percentage of 88 was observed in 50ppm (T₇). However, higher seedling root length of 3.45cm was noted in 200ppm (T₁₀) and shoot length of 4.80 cm was found in 50ppm (T₇) at 12^th DAS. Highest vigour index was found in 50 ppm (T₇).In case of kinetin, the higher germination percentage of 84 was found in 100ppm (T₁₃), while the higher seedling root length of 1.96 cm was found in 10 ppm (T₁₂), seedling shoot length of 3.30 cm (T₁₂),and higher vigour index was found in 10 ppm (T₁₂)_.Among all the hormones, the higher germination percentage of 91 was noted in 50 ppm (T₃) of gibberellic acid (GA) as compared to control 97.00 percent. While seedling root length of 3.45 cm was found at 200 ppm (T₁₀) in salicylic acid, higher mean shoot length of 6.30 cm was recorded in gibberellic acid. Similarly, seedling height maximum of 9.36 cm was recorded in 300 ppm (T₆) in gibberellic acid and maximum vigour index of 785 was found in 200 ppm (T₅) of gibberellic acid.