Amélioration de la germination de la luzerne (Medicago sativa L.) sous stress salin par traitement pré-germinatif

Using a pretreatment to improve lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) germination under saline conditions

Lucerne is a key crop in many arid and semiarid regions that are experiencing soil and water salinisation, which both negatively affect lucerne growth. In this study, we observed that pretreating the seeds of a Moroccan lucerne population (Taf 2) increased their salinity tolerance. The pretreatment consisted of soaking seeds in a 200 mM NaCl solution for 24 h. Control seeds and pretreated seeds were then grown under normal and saline conditions (i.e., where environmental NaCl concentrations were 0 mM and 200 mM, respectively). There was no difference in germination between the two seed groups under normal conditions. However, under saline conditions, the pretreated seeds had significantly greater germination success (89.17 %), germination velocity (index value of 14.9), and radicle length (2.30 cm). For the control seeds, these values were 80 %,13.3, and 1.54 cm, respectively.