Physiological Adaptive Capabilities of Fifteen Different Local Rice Cultivars Under Salinity Condition

Abstract

Rice is a major cereal contributing to the world’s calories consumption and staple food crop over for one-third of the world’s population. At present salinity is the second most widespread soil problem after drought and is considered as a serious constraint to increase rice production. Soil salinity affects plants through osmotic effects, ion-specific effects and oxidative stress. The effect of salinity stress in plants is mediated at least in part by an enhanced generation of active oxygen species, especially in chloroplast and in mitochondria which cause lipid peroxidation and membrane injury, protein degradation and enzyme inactivation. Plants have developed a complex anti-oxidant complex which mitigates and repairs the damage initiated by reactive oxygen species, toward enzyme synthesis to protect the cellular and subcellular system degradation. The seedling stage is one of the most sensitive stages to salt stress in rice and studies on salt tolerance during this stage could probably provide insights for enhancing tolerance throughout the plant life cycle. The present investigation was undertaken to examine the influence of NaCl on metabolic status of chlorophyll, protein, starch, soluble sugar and salt-tolerant capabilities among different rice cultivars.