DAIDANO PAPER.docx

Title: Effect of K fertilizer on growth and biomass production of cotton under salinity stress
AUTHOR : Shafique Ahmed Daidano this research was conducted during 2014-15 at sindh agriculture university tandojam Pakistan .

The aim of this study was to investigate the collective effect of salinity and potassium nutrition to enhance cotton growth and yield attributes and to assess role of potassium nutrition to mitigate salt stress and to improve cotton productivity. Regarding this experiment the cotton variety CRIS 559 was selected with three potassium doses (0, 50, 100 kg ha-1), three salinity levels (0, 40, 80 mM L1-) and three replications under Completely Randomized design (CRD) factorial. The results indicated that the highest fresh biomass (g pot-1), plant height (cm), number of leaves (plant-1), number of bolls (g pot-1) and boll weight (g pot-1) was obtained in control pot where tape water was used for the irrigation. Whereas, these studied parameters were decreased significantly with the increasing of salinity levels from 40 to 80 mM L1-. However incorporation of potassium reduced the negative impact of salinity. The highest mean value was obtained where potassium was applied @ 50 and 100 kg ha-1 where non saline water was applied. Although K in saline conditions also increases the mean values of these parameters as compared to control pots. Further results showed that K+ accumulation in soil and cotton leaves were significantly decreased with increasing salinity levels from 40 to 80 mM L1-. However concentration of Na+ and Cl- was increased significantly with increasing salt stress. Although the application of K decreased the concentration of Na+ and Cl- in both soil and leaves of cotton. The results of this study indicated that all growth parameters of cotton CRIS -559 was inhibited by increasing salt concentration. However incorporation of potassium reduced the harmful effect of salinity. The concentration of Na+ and Cl- decreased significantly with increasing K doses. It was estimated that all growth parameters were increased significantly with the increasing of K doses.