Effects of NaCl on Growth, Chlorophyll and Sugar Contents in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Malidum and Malidang Cultivars

Abstract

Background and Objective: Thailand encounters saline soil problems scattered in many areas which affect the agricultural area and causes a decrease in productivity especially growing rice, which is the main economic crop. Rice is the staple food of the Thai people. The rice that was used in this research is a native rice cultivar, which has a special feature: The Malidum cultivar with black grain and the Malidang rice grain with red color. It has high nutritional value in color grains, especially with antioxidants, which today’s consumers are more attentive and consuming this rice. To study the impact of salinity stress in rice (Oryza sativa L.) using two cultivars (Malidum and Malidang). Materials and Methods: Seeds germinated for 7 days. After that, the seedlings were transplanted into grown in Hoagland’s solution (modified) with NaCl added at concentrations of 0 (control), 50, 100 and 200 mM. Until the plants were 35 days old, the results were recorded and analyzed. The experiment consisted of four replicates in each treatment. Results: The NaCl had an effect on rice growth. The height, fresh weight, dry weight and chlorophyll A and B contents decreased when increasing the NaCl concentration significantly at the 95% confidence level and found that when plants were exposed to increased salinity concentrations, Malidum had a percentage reduction (compared to control) of height and chlorophyll B was higher than Malidang, while in Malidang there was a higher percentage reduction of fresh weight, dry weight and chlorophyll A than Malidum. In Malidang the total sugars increased to the highest concentration at 50 mM NaCl. Conclusion: A comparison of salt tolerance between two cultivars of rice found that the Malidang cultivar had a greater tolerance than the Malidum cultivar.