Effects of salinity on warm-season turfgrass species collected in a mediterranean environment

Background and Objective: The demand for salt-tolerant turfgrass is becoming more pressing. In Italy, many turfgrass species have been introduced from foreign countries, but they have shown a low adaptability to the prevailing Mediterranean climatic conditions. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of salinity on warm-season turfgrass species collected in a Mediterranean environment and exposed to salinity in hydroponic culture. Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted in Italy in a temperaturecontrolled glasshouse, where samples of 25 different macrotherm specimens of Cynodon dactylon and four commercial cultivars (Transcontinental, Yukon, Panama and Seaspray) in rectangular plastic pots were exposed to saline conditions. Plants were subjected to one level of salt stress corresponding to 150 mM NaCl from the addition of NaCl. Results: Conditions of salinity were shown to have a depressing effect on all of the measured parameters: The leaf area, dry weight, dry weight of roots and root/shoot ratio. Salinity conditions resulted in a great increase in the leaf concentration of sodium and chlorine, but the ability of the plants to limit the accumulation of sodium ions in the leaf tissue varied enormously between the different compared accessions. Conclusion: The data produced in this study demonstrate a fair amount of variability in response to salinity in terms of growth among the studied ecotypes. We have identified three accessions from the turfgrass material collected in the Mediterranean area that appear to be relatively less salt-sensitive.