P7.24 Effect of salinity on germination and seedling growth of four medicinal plants Alireza Dadkhah (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad) This experiment was conducted in Germinator in order to study the effects of water potential on seed germination, rate of germination and seedling growth of four medicinal plants named Coriandrum sativum, Plantago psyllium, Discorinia sophia, Portulaca oleracea,. Four water potentials including distilled water as control (0), -0.37, -0.59 and -0.81 MPa which made by different salts (NaCl, CaCl2 and NaCl+CaCl2 in 5 to 1 molar ratio). The experiment was carried out based on completely randomized design with six replications. Results of variance analysis showed that effects of water potential, type of salt composition on germination percentage, rate of germination, root and shoot length were significant. With decreasing water potential, germination percentage and rate of germination declined but the response of plants differed so that seed germination of Portulaca oleracea was not affected by decreasing water potential where as others significantly decreased. The effect of salt composition was significant on rate and percentage germination. The percentage germination at lower water potential which made by NaCl + CaCl2 significantly was higher than the same water potential made by only NaCl and CaCl2 . Email Address for correspondence: dadkhah@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir Poster Session 17:00 – 19:00 Friday 2nd July 2010

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