Germination and seedlings growth of domestic poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) regarding salinity and temperatures

In this research there were studied the effects of NaCl-induced salinity and environment temperatures on germination and seedlings growth of domestic poppy. The study was conducted in the controlled conditions in the plant growth chamber. There were applied different concentrations of NaCl (0 mM (control), 50 mM, 100 mM and 150 mM) and environment temperatures (10°C, 15°C and 20°C). The 50 seeds of domestic poppy cultivar (Detkovac) were sown in 4 replicates on the filter paper. The germination energy was determined on the 5th day and total germination rate and seedlings morphological characteristic were determined on the 10th day. At the 5th day germination energy was on average 28%. It was interesting to note that at the 10°C there were no germinated seeds after 5 days at all salinity treatments and also, at the salinity level of 150 mM NaCl at every temperature. The average germination rate (on 10th day) of domestic poppy seeds were 52% and it varied from 30% (150 mM NaCl and 20°C) to 90% (0 mM NaCl and 15°C). Different salinity of water solution had a very significant (p<0.01) influence on stem, root and total length (cm) of seedlings. The average root length was 1.3 cm and it varied from 0.9 cm (100 mM NaCl) to 1.8 cm (0 NaCl). The average stem length was 1.8 cm. The longest stem was found at control (2.7 cm), and between 50 and 100 mM of NaCl the difference was not significant and stem length averaged 1.4 to 1.3 cm depending on the temperature. Average total poppy seedlings length of this study was 3.0 cm and it varied from 4.5 cm at the control to 2.3 cm at 100 mM NaCl. With regard to temperatures, there was no significant differences found in root and total length of poppy seedlings, but the differences were very significant (p<0.01) for stem length. The longest poppy seedlings were measured at 20°C and 0 mM NaCl (4.9 cm), while at 10°C and at 0 or 50 mM NaCl, seedlings were less than 0.1 cm. Seeds were not germinating at all on 10°C on both, 100 and 150 mM NaCl. Generally, salinity reduced germination energy and germination rate and seedlings length. Results may indicate that seeds are mainly affected by osmotic stress and therefore it is not recommended to cultivate poppies on soils with excess salts