Vol. 12, Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
Madhavi Sonone, Arun Mane, Santosh Sawardekar and Ramesh Kunkerkar

Abstract:
Soil salinity seriously threatens rice production worldwide, particularly in coastal regions. Improving screening methodologies and identification of tolerant traits for improved breeding for salt-tolerant rice is of enduring importance. Rice genotypes of the Konkan region varying in salt tolerance, such as tolerant Panvel-1 and sensitive Karjat-4 were grown in coastal saline soil of EC 3 dS/m and additional NaCl was imposed to achieve 6 and 9 dS/m under a controlled environment. The study aimed to examine the impact of salt stress on chlorophyll pigments during the reproductive stage. It was found that Chlorophyll a, and chlorophyll b significantly diminished due to salinity in both genotypes. However, pigments were more drastically reduced in sensitive Karjat-4. The study concluded that salt stress has a severe impact on photosynthetic pigments. Identifying such traits that can be proven as tolerant against salinity is crucial for the physiological phenotyping of coastal rice genotypes and ultimately for the crop improvement programs.