article · Crop Forage & Turfgrass Management
Salt stress affects field crops most during their earliest developmental stages. While conventional belief holds that barley tolerates salt better than wheat, specific data on South African cultivars remains limited. Laboratory tests assessed seed germination in three South African spring wheat cultivars (SST 027, SST 056, and SST 087) and three spring barley cultivars (Nemesia, Erica, and Hessekwa). Grains were germinated in incubators at twenty degrees Celsius across various salt concentrations ranging from zero to twenty decisiemens per metre. Increasing salinity reduced overall germination across all tested cultivars, but significant declines occurred primarily at severe levels between sixteen and twenty decisiemens per metre. Contrary to general expectations, wheat cultivars demonstrated higher germination rates than barley across most salinity levels, indicating that barley is less salt tolerant during seed germination.
Saline soils pose serious constraints on cereal production. Challenging the assumption that barley always handles salinity better than wheat helps agricultural planners and growers reconsider crop choices during early growth stages. Knowing how specific local varieties react to saline conditions ensures better informed decisions for planting in salt-affected environments.
This research provides baseline comparative data on commercial South African grain cultivars. The findings can guide seed companies, breeders, and agronomists in selecting or recommending cultivars for salt-affected agricultural zones. Because the findings derive from controlled incubator experiments rather than field conditions, the work is early-stage research that requires field-level validation before informing commercial planting practices.
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Abstract Field crops are most susceptible to salt stress in the early stages of growth. There is a general belief that barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is more salt‐tolerant than wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), yet little is known regarding the response of different South African wheat and barley cultivars to saline conditions. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of salinity on seed germination in three South African spring wheat cultivars (SST 027, SST 056, and SST 087) and three spring barley cultivars (Nemesia, Erica, and Hessekwa). The experiment was conducted in petri dishes in a growth incubator at a constant temperature of 20 °C for 7 d. Seeds were exposed to five NaCl solutions with electrical conductivity (EC) levels of 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 dS m −1 and were compared with those exposed to a solution with an EC of 0 dS m −1 (distilled water), which served as a control. The experiment design was a completely randomized design. The study showed that salinity influenced seed germination in all wheat and barley cultivars. Although all cultivars showed a reduction in total germination percentage with increasing salinity from EC levels of 0 to 20 dS m −1 , the differences were only significant ( P < .05) at high EC levels (16–20 dS m −1 ). Wheat cultivars outperformed barley cultivars at EC levels of 0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 dS m −1 . The study showed that salinity influenced seed germination in both wheat and barley, but barley was less salt‐tolerant during germination than wheat.
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DOI: 10.1002/cft2.20069
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