responses of pomegranate (punica granatum l.) drought-tolerant rootstocks to the salinity of irrigation water

Purpose: pomegranate is an important crop in iran. however, soiland water salinity in pomegranate growing areas of iran is one ofthe most important abiotic stresses resulting in economicallysignificant losses. the most effective way to deal with salinity is todevelop salinity-tolerant rootstocks and cultivars and use them inareas with saline soil and water. research method: the experimentwas conducted as a factorial based on a completely randomizeddesign, where three rootstocks (‘daneshgah 8’, ‘daneshgah 13’, and‘daneshgah 32’) and five salinity levels (irrigation water as a controltreatment, and concentrations of 25, 50, 75 and 100 mm sodiumchloride) were the factors. salinity treatments were applied in june,july, and august on three-year plants. by the end of the study, somemorphological, physiological, and biochemical traits were recorded.findings: under salinity stress conditions, pomegranate rootstocksshowed apparent differences in measured traits. among theevaluated rootstocks, ‘daneshgah 13’ exhibited good tolerance tosalinity stress due to the smaller reductions in leaf relative watercontent, chlorophyll content, plant height, shoot number, fresh anddry weight, as well as lower values of ion leakage, and necrotic andfallen leaves. research limitations: by measuring some otherphysiochemical traits such as antioxidant enzymes and prolinecontents, the response of pomegranate drought-tolerant rootstocksto the salinity can be more clearly interpreted. originality/value:therefore, ‘daneshgah 13’ can be used as appropriate geneticresources in breeding programs for tolerance to salinity.