Response of African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon L.) cultivars produced in Benin Republic to salt stress at germination stage

Abstract

In this study, the response of seed germination of six African eggplant cultivars produced in Benin Republic (Dangbo, Kpinman, Adja-Ouèrè, Togan, Côte d’Ivoire and Kombara F1) to salt stress was investigated with the aim to determine their relative salt resistance level. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with four replications. Seeds were subjected in Petri dishes to five NaCl concentrations (0; 30; 60; 90 and 120 mM). Seed germination was checked every day during twenty days incubation period. Germination index (GI), percentage of final germination (PFG) and salt tolerance index (STI) were calculated for each cultivar. Salt stress induced a significant reduction of GI (P < 0.001) and PFG (P <0.05) with a difference among cultivars. A significant difference (P <0.001) was observed among cultivars STI: cultivar Togan showed the highest STI (0.96) followed by Adja-Ouèrè (0.89) and Dangbo (0.76) whereas Côte d’Ivoire (0.38) and Kombara F1 (0.35) showed the weakest STI values. Thus cultivar Togan appeared as the most salt resistant whereas Côte d’Ivoire and Kombara F1were the most salt sensitive. For the first time, we demonstrated a variability of relative salinity resistance among local African eggplant cultivars at germination stage.