The effects of seed size and salinity on seed germination characteristic in wheat (var. Chamran)

Salinity is a determining factor for seed germination. Germination and seedling growth are the most susceptible stages of plant to salinity stress. In order to the investigation of seed size and salinity stress on wheat, an experiment was done with three sizes (small, medium and large) of wheat (var. Chamran) and six level of salinity (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 mmol NaCl) as a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications. The effect of seed size was significant on RL, SDW and VI2. The effect of seed size was not significant on other traits. Based on LSD test, small seeds have the GU (46.88 h) and RL (10.79 Cm), but have least SDW (0.01 g) and VI2 (0.89). The results of ANOVA showed that salinity has the significant effect on Gmax, RL, SL and VI1 (table 1). The results of regression analysis showed that with increasing salinity levels all of those traits were decreased linearly (R² varied between 0.6081** to 0.8417**). Therefore using small seeds could help to use less seed per unite of area. This issue can reduces costs of farmers per unit of area and larger seeds because of Market-friendly used with factories for oil production and food.