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Salinity Tolerance Screening in Iranian and Afghan Melons (Cucumis melon) Based on Several Associated Morphological and Physiological Traits
Hikmatullah Hikmat1 , Maryam Haghighi * 2, Hamid Reza Eshghizade3 , Golnoosh Banitalebi4
1- Department of Horticulture-College of Agriculture-Isfahan University of Technology-Isfahan-Iran
2- Department of Horticulture-College of Agriculture-Isfahan University of Technology-Isfahan-Iran , mhaghighi@cc.iut.ac.ir
3- Department of Plant Production and Genetics-College of Agriculture-Isfahan University of Technology Isfahan- Iran
4- Department of Soil Science-College of Agriculture-Isfahan University of Technology-Isfahan-Iran
Abstract:   (392 Views)
This study aimed to investigate the effect of salinity on morphological and physiological traits of native Iranian melon landrace and Afghan melon cultivars using a split-plot experiment with a Randomized Complete Block Design in three replications. Two salinity levels (2 and 8 dSm-1 NaCl) and 39 cultivars from Iran and Afghanistan were used in this study. PCA comparisons were done between morphological and physiological parameters. The sensitive and tolerant cultivars were chosen based on proximity to high yield, morphological characteristics, and distance from stress indices. The biplot results showed a high correlation between vitamin C traits with soluble solids, proline, and relative water content and a negative correlation with Fv/Fm ratio. These indices are good indicators for identifying saline resistance cultivars. Salinity stress increased electrolyte leakage, proline concentration, total antioxidant activity, sodium content, vitamin C, organic acid, and total soluble solids. In addition, salinity decreased the yield, mean fruit weight, firmness, fruit length, fruit width, internal cavity length, internal cavity width, flesh thickness and fruit peel thickness, Fv/Fm ratio, greenness index, relative water content, leaf potassium. The highest concentrations of sodium were found in the Gorgi Shirdan Jorgeaval cultivar under salinity, while the highest concentrations of potassium were found in the Torkamani cultivar under non-saline conditions. Analysis revealed two types of Torkamani and Zanki melon which are recommended to plant in saline conditions.
Keywords: Abiotic stress, Genetic diversity, Melon yield, Resistance cultivar, Salinity, Total antioxidant activity
Full-Text [PDF 561 kb]   (347 Downloads)    
Article Type: Original Research | Subject: Vegetable Crops
Received: 2023/07/2 | Accepted: 2024/01/10 | Published: 2024/03/31
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Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.