Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Morrison, Jesse I.

Committee Member

Baldwin, Brian S.

Committee Member

Jones, Keri D.

Committee Member

Rushing, J. Brett

Date of Degree

8-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Plant & Soil Science (Agronomy)

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Plant and Soil Sciences

Abstract

Most crop species are highly sensitive to elevated levels of soil salinity. Increased soil salination has become one of the most detrimental environmental factors limiting agricultural productivity. Agricultural commodity losses due to salinity are currently estimated to be 12 billion USD per year and are expected to increase every year as more acreage is affected by salination. The Elymus genus is composed of approximately 150 species of grasses with geographic distribution that spans the globe. Elymus species are commonly used for revegetation, wildlife habitat, and erosion control. While increased tolerance to soil salinity has been reported that Argentine wheatgrass (Elymus scabrifolius (Doll) J.H. Hunz.)) and sand couchgrass (Elymus farctus L.) it is currently unknown if the ability to tolerate increased soil salinity exists in four popular North American Elymus species including southeastern wildrye [Elymus glabriflorus (Vasey ex L.H. Dewey)], Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis L.), Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus L.), and riverbank wildrye (Elymus riparius Wiegand). In this study, tolerance to salinity was evaluated in these four species at the seed germination and seedling stage. The germination test was performed by watering seeds with 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400mmol NaCl and placing them in a controlled environment chamber. The tolerance level was determined by germination rate. The seedling stage test was performed by irrigating seedlings with the same salinity levels in a greenhouse and monitoring injury and biomass yield reduction. This research will help identify salinity tolerance in these popular Elymus species at different life stages, allowing land managers and producers to make informed species selection decisions for revegetation, grazing, erosion control or habitat management when soil salinity is an issue.

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