A Study on the Effect of Salinity Stress on the Growth and Yield of Some Native RiceCultivars of Kerala State of India

Rice is the most importantcereal cropamong many ofthe low and middle income countries of the world. Natural phenomena and human activities have led to the loss of rice fields at an alarming speed. Utilization of marginal and critical habitats for cultivation is the only way to sustain the net cropping area available for the crop. Many of such areas are threatened by salinity stress. Screening of rice cultivars for salt tolerance and their conservation, improvement and utilization are the only solutions. Seven native rice cultivars of Kerala state of India have been screened presently for their performance under salt stress. Five of them were collected from a traditional saline habitat and two from non-saline areas. It has been observed that majority of the cultivars collected from the saline habitat and Veliyan, one cultivar collected from a non-saline area performed well under moderate salt stress. In all the cases, early flowering was induced by salt stress.