Impact of Irrigation Water Salinity on Germination and Seedling Growth of Egyptian Barley Cultivars

: The aim of this research was to assess the influence of saline irrigation water which prepared to obtain salt stress of 0.31, 3.21, 5.74, 8.28 and 12.86 dS/m on seed germination, and early seedling growth of 10 cultivars (Giza 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 134, 135 and 2000) of Egyptian barley grown in clay loam soil. Germination was tested in germination cups filled with clay loam soil moistened with different concentrations of saline water, in the growth chambers condition. Results indicated that, the highest values of germinated seeds were recorded mainly at fresh water (0.31 dS/m) at all germination periods. Also, the maximum values were recorded at investigated barley cultivars Giza 126, 127 and 2000 for three studied periods (3, 5 and 7 d), while Giza 129, 130 and 135 got the same trend where the highest values for germinated seeds attained at the 5 d, 7 d and at 3 d were 9.5 seeds, respectively. Barley cultivar Giza 126 had significantly higher root length (4.07 cm), shoot length (11.75 cm), root fresh weight (48.2 mg), shoot fresh weight (101.1 mg), root dry weight (7.1 mg), shoot dry weight (6.6 mg) and seedling vigor index (13.44). The 6 kDa protein bands had the same increasing after salt stress in cultivars Giza 123, 127, 129, 134 and 135. Barley cultivars in clay soil can be classified into barley cultivars Giza 126, 127 and 2000 as highly tolerance and barley cultivar Giza 129, 123 and 127 as moderately tolerance and the rest is less.