Response of eight Cucumis melo cultivars to salinity during germination and early vegetative growth

Abstract

In order to determine salt tolerance in eight varieties of Cucumis melo, two controlled environment experiments were carried out with seeds and seedlings. The tolerance study was carried out using the Van Genuchten equation which was found to have a very high level of fitting for melon. During the germination process, the most tolerant varieties were 'amarello' and 'amarillo oro' and during the early vegetative growth it was 'tendral terreno'. In general, there was no relationship between salt tolerance at the two stages of development. Salinity induced a decrease in the concentrations of Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+ in the shoots, but only of K+ in the roots of all varieties. Phosphate concentration showed no significant changes either in the shoots or in the roots. Salt tolerance mechanism in Cucumis melo seems to be associated with a compartmentation process, since a correlation was found between Na+ or Cl- uptake and tolerance.