Responses of Marigold Cultivars to Saline Water Irrigation
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Marigolds (Tagetes sp.) are ornamental plants with fine-textured, dark green foliage, and yellow, orange, or bicolored flowers. The relative salt tolerance of eight marigolds [Discovery Orange, Discovery Yellow, Taishan Gold, Taishan Orange, and Taishan Yellow african marigold (Tagetes erecta); Hot Pak Gold, Hot Pak Orange, and Hot Pak Yellow french marigold (Tagetes patula)] was evaluated in a greenhouse experiment. Plants were irrigated weekly with nutrient solution at an electrical conductivity (EC) of 1.2 dSm1 (control) or saline solutions at an EC of 3.0 or 6.0 dSm1 (EC 3 or EC 6). Marigold plants began to show foliar salt damage (leaf burn and necrosis) at 6 weeks after the initiation of treatment. At harvest (9 weeks after the initiation of treatment), Discovery Orange, Discovery Yellow, Taishan Gold, and Taishan Yellow plants exhibited severe foliar salt damage with visual scores less than 2 (on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 = dead and 5 = excellent with no foliar salt damage) in EC 6. In the same treatment, Hot Pak Gold and Taishan Orange plants all died and only one of nine Hot Pak Orange and Hot Pak Yellow plants survived. In EC 3, all cultivars had slight or minimal foliar salt damage with visual scores 4 with the exception of Taishan Gold and Taishan Orange plants that showed moderate foliar damage with a visual score of 2.3 and 2.1, respectively. Treatment EC 3 reduced the flower number of Discovery Orange, Discovery Yellow, Hot Pak Gold, and Hot Pak Yellow by 52%, 28%, 50%, and 30%, respectively, whereas EC 6 decreased the flower number of Discovery Orange and Discovery Yellow by 48% and 52%, respectively. In addition, both EC 3 and EC 6 did not reduce total dry weight (DW) of any cultivars, except Hot Pak Yellow and Taishan Yellow. In conclusion, all marigold cultivars are moderately sensitive to salt. Discovery Orange, Taishan Yellow, Discovery Yellow, and Taishan Gold were more tolerant than Hot Pak Gold, Hot Pak Orange, Hot Pak Yellow, and Taishan Orange.
