LAUSR

Cucumber is one of the important agricultural products consumed in various forms by people in Iran and other places in the world. One of the important factors in reducing the production of this product is soil and water salinity. The aim of the present research was to investigate the effects of salinity (NaCl) on vegetative and physiological characteristics of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). In this experiment, after growth of plantlet , (after weeks) ,they were exposed to different concentrations of sodium chloride solution including , , , and mM were treated and irrigated. Samples were taken after applying all salinity concentrations to different plant rows. Then characteristics such as the number and length of the root, the number of leaves, the weights of fresh and dry root and shoot, relative chlorophyll and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured. The results of data analysis showed that different salinity concentrations reduced vegetative and physiological characteristics of the cucumber. The highest quality of vegetative characteristics was observed in control plants and, with increasing the salinity concentration, the vegetative characteristics decreased until the lowest quality was observed in all mM salinity treatments. The highest amount of potassium in shoot and root was observed in control plants and then mM NaCl treatment, and the lowest amount was observed in mM NaCl. The highest levels of root and shoot Na were observed in and mM NaCl, respectively. Salinity caused the reduction of chlorophyll in the plant and in conclusion some of plants due to reduction of chlorophyle level induced chlorosis and finally were dead. This problem was observed in plants with higher salt concentrations.