Evaluation of the Salinity Stress Effect on Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) Ecotypes in Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) is one of the most important Medicinal plants. Since many semi arid and arid areas of Iran are affected by salinity and accessing water resources has been decreased. Proper measures need to be taken for water efficiency and efficient use of salt area in agriculture. Resources can be used in an optimum way by changing the planting pattern and using proper of cumin under salt stress. This research was conducted to determine the highest rate yield and tolerance against salinity stress of different ecotypes of cumin. The experiment was executed in the triple lattice with three repetitions in Kerman, Iran. The results showed that salinity stress has significant deference on traits such as seed index, seed yield, dry weight and harvest index, while it has non-significant result on other yield components such as plant height, number of umbel per plant, number of seeds per umbel and number of seeds per plant. The studied ecotypes had a significant difference regarding all of the characteristics. Therefore, the ecotype of Sepidan from Pars province was identified as the most tolerating and the ecotype of Qaen from Southern-Khorasan province was identified as the most sensitive ecotype under salinity stress regarding seed yield.