ABSTRACT
The effect of salinity on morphological characters of salt tolerant genotypes PVSB9, PVSB19, PNR381, PNR519, Iratom24 and salt sensitive genotype NS15 along with one standard check salt tolerant rice cultivar Pokkali were assessed in two factors Completely Randomized Design with four replications. Seven rice genotypes in combination with six levels of salinity (0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 dS m(-1)) were randomly assigned in 168 experimental plastic pots. The different morphological characters studied include plant height, total number of tillers, Root Dry Weight (RDW), Shoot Dry Weight (SDW) and Total Dry Matter (TDM) content of the selected rice genotypes in view to evaluate their response at different salinity levels. The results on the effect of morphological characters indicated that plant height, total tillers, root, shoot and total dry matter were significantly decreased by the application of salinity. The genotypes Pokkali, PVSB9, PVSB19 showed significantly higher values and the lowest value of all these characters were recorded in NS15. A sharp decrease in percent relative-plant height, RDW, SDW, TDM, total tillers were found in susceptible genotype NS 15 after 3 dS m(-1) level of salinity, but these characters were found to decrease slowly in tolerant genotypes.
